Storiesonline.net
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                              Finding Peace
                            by Celtic Cowboy

Copyright© 2007 by Celtic Cowboy


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Description: For years Tom Dunlap had considered himself to be something of a fish out of water - born to the wrong father in the wrong era. Someone was about to throw him back in.

Codes: MF Mf FF Ff ScFi TimeTr slow tears poly rom 1st cons interr WM oral preg
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Any resemblance between the characters in this story and persons living or dead is purely coincidental. The places in the story are taken from all over west Texas just not necessarily from the Ft. Stockton area. Please respect my copyright.

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Chapter 1

My name is Thomas Jefferson Dunlap, some of my friends call me TJ, I prefer Tom, but as the joke goes 'call me anything but late for supper'. I left my home, near Azle just outside Ft. Worth, Texas, two weeks ago on what I would describe as the trip of a lifetime. I intended to do a better job of keeping this journal but until last night I really hadn't had much to write about. Before last night basically all that's happened was this: I got up, ate breakfast, saddled Jack and the two mules, rode for ten or twelve hours, made camp, ate supper, and then went to bed when the sun went down. Exciting huh?

But last night, Wow! Last night was scary! I have never seen a storm like that one. At one point I was beginning to think my father was right and this was a very dumb idea. What was the dumb idea you ask? Well from the time that I learned to read I have been in love with the old west. My father once said I had been born one hundred fifty years too late. If he knew how many nights I had lain awake fantasising about that very thing he would never have allowed it to pass his lips.

Dad is a lawyer. Not your plain vanilla ambulance chasing shyster, nope not by a long shot. My dear old Dad was one of, if not the, most successful corporate lawyers in the world. Yes I said world. If there is one thing my Dad has in spades its ego and long ago Dad had set his sights on world business.

Unfortunately for me, I was a cornerstone of his planned empire. I was expected to go to Harvard, get my law degree and then top it off with an MBA. Never mind what I wanted. There had been many a knock down drag out fight over his plans for me. The last big fight had been over this trip.

He had wanted me to spend my summer getting a head start on my education. He had it all mapped out; go to Harvard and take classes non stop until I had both of the degrees he wanted. I'm not sure how it's going to happen but law and business are the absolute last things that I want to learn about. I like horses and I like medicine and by hook or by crook if I go to college it will be to vet school or nothing. Dear old Dad evidently hasn't heard 'you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.' That's what I had decided about Harvard, he may get me there, but he'll play hell getting me to attend class. It's funny in a way, I once heard him in an argument with a man who said he broke the law because he was forced to. My Dad responded 'you can't make a good man do a damn thing'. I wonder if he ever thought about how he was going to make me go to Harvard.

I had hoped to avoid a big fight and the only way my Mom and I saw to do that was for me to just leave without telling him. He thought I was just going to ride for two weeks and then come back. Boy howdy was he going to be surprised.

Since Dad had another one of his big meetings in Zurich, Mom and I saw him to the plane and then she dropped me off at our place outside of Azle. She hugged and kissed me and made me promise to call her regularly. I left Azle and headed northwest; my plan was to go up through the panhandle of Texas, ride as far as I could go and someone would pick me up. They would drive me to the nearest airport and then take my horses and pack mules back to Texas. Mom was pretty sure she could sell my trip if I was to miss the first week or two of summer school. Then it was going to be up to me to fight it out with Dad. The one thing I knew for sure was that Mom would support my decision whatever it was.

I hoped and dreamed that something would happen short of a knock down drag out with my Dad and I wouldn't have to go to Harvard. Can you see me at Harvard? A six foot tall cowboy that lived in blue jeans and boots topped off by a Stetson hat. Eighteen years old and as country as country can be. Yep, I would have gone over like a lead balloon. Oh, you caught that 'would have.'

Well I'm not sure what happened last night but me, Jack my lineback dun stud horse, Jill, Jack's lady, Jake and Jasper, the two mules took shelter under this over hang. When we sprinted in here yesterday afternoon trying to avoid getting hailed on there had been the two north bound lanes of a four lane highway just a few yards away. Now I don't profess to be the smartest feller alive but I haven't figured out how this little piece of rock or that highway could move.

But sure as shit stinks that highway was gone. I don't know about where you're from but where I'm from we don't normally have that kind of problem. There was something very strange about that storm last night. For one thing I woke up around midnight nauseous as all get out and I still wasn't feeling none too pert even after digging into my pill stash and taking that 25mg Promethazine for the nausea.

Still queasy I decided to forgo breakfast; I grained my animals and started breaking camp. In an hour the mules were loaded, Jack was saddled and I was ready to see what lay before me. Yesterday just before I pulled off the median to get under the overhang there had been a bridge about a hundred yards down the road. That bridge was over the Canadian River. On the other side of that bridge had been a small building. It looked like an old gas station or Caf' and now all of that was gone. I briefly entertained the thought that I'd been sent back in time and just as quickly dismissed the idea. After all, that only happened in books or some of those stories I read on SOL.

I stopped at the stream long enough to top off my canteens and water bags. Looking at the water purifier I wondered how long I could trust it if I couldn't get the needed replacement parts. I mounted up and crossed the river where the bridge had been. Then it was an uphill ride out of the river valley. When I topped out I saw a sight that absolutely took my breath away. Buffalo, hundreds, no thousands, they went as far as the eye could see. Ok, I think I'm going to have to rethink the time travel possibility.

Riding through the buffalo didn't seem the prudent thing to do so I turned right and started moving eastward, parallel to the river and towards the end of the herd. One of the things that I remembered reading was that the plains Indians would follow the herds of buffalo. That led me to get my pistols out of the pack where they normally rode. My fascination with the old west included the firearms of the day. My father, in order to curry my favour, had over the years bought me several black powder revolvers. I had made a holster that fit very comfortably in front of my jeans that held a little 1849 model Colt in .36 caliber and any time I was out riding I had it on me. With my current circumstances I decided it would be a very good idea to get out my two .44 caliber Walker revolvers. I dug them out of the pack they had rode in ever since leaving Azle. I checked the loads in the pistols and the loads in the spare cylinders and buckled on my gun belt.

One of my stops on this little ride had been a black powder shoot in Amarillo that had been a couple of days ago. So besides the two Walker Colts I had a .50 caliber Hawken rifle packed away on my lead mule and a .44 caliber cattleman's carbine on my saddle. I had two extra cylinders for each pistol and plenty of caps, powder, balls and the molds to make more, although I would have to have some more lead. That made me somewhat safer from the Indians and armed enough to get into a gunfight with a white man ... In my defense and not bragging, well no more than is normal for a Texan, I am a very good shot and pretty fast on the draw.

About noon I saw a buffalo calf standing over its dead mother. Knowing the calf didn't have much of a chance I shot it and gutted it out. It was my first time to ever gut a buffalo but the principle isn't all that different from gutting a deer. I spotted a place that looked like it would be a good place to camp. I decided to stay put long enough that I could jerk some buffalo meat. I found a little spring fed creek that ran into the river. It looked like a good place to camp for a few days. It was late enough in the day so I climbed down off Jack and started setting up camp. I rigged up a couple of racks and started drying the buffalo meat. I figured if I have been sent back in time my chances of finding a Wal-Mart had dropped to close to zero.

It was pretty obvious that I would need some more fire wood so about an hour and a half before sunset I started off down stream with one of the mules to get some more wood. I couldn't have been a half mile from camp when I saw them. Buzzards were circling about a mile or better ahead of me. Well, I could pick up wood on my way to look and see what it was. This was the most I'd walked since I'd left Azel and I was already thinking this wasn't a good idea. I had just come up over a little hill where I saw a horse grazing and something on the ground not far from the horse.

As I got closer it became clear that it was a person laying on the ground, albeit a small one. He was unconscious when I walked up on him. It was a Native American boy who looked to be about ten or eleven years old. The horse that was standing nearby was favouring his left foreleg. Since the boy was lying at the edge of a prairie dog town I figured chances were the horse had stepped in one of the holes. But the horse wasn't the only one with a bad leg. The boy's right leg was turned at an unnatural angle, and there was little doubt it was broken.

I took the canteen off the mule and knelt down next to the boy. When he came to he panicked, lucky for me his thirst over rode his fear of me. I gave him a drink and then I decided to have a look at his leg.

Before my mother would sign off on this little trail ride she made me get some first aid instruction. This trip wasn't a spur of the moment idea; I had worked for two years getting ready. So when the local volunteer fire department started an EMT, Emergency Medical Technician, training class, I got my father to throw some of his weight around and get me in the class. Since at the time I wasn't eighteen, I couldn't be an EMT but the training was great. We even got to do a rotation at the ER, Emergency Room, for some on the job training. So fixing this boy's leg wasn't going to be half as hard as getting him back to camp.

The boy had a buffalo skin that he was using as a riding pad. I took it and cut it into strips. Using a bunch of green willows I'd cut to make more racks for drying the meat, I was able to make a damn good substitute splint. I remembered from a survival book that I'd read that the willow bark has a crude form of an aspirin like compound that the Native Americans had used for pain. I stripped off some of the bark and made a small bundle. This would serve two purposes. First it would give the boy something to bite down on when I had to set his broken leg and maybe, just maybe, he would get a little pain relief. At least until I could get him back to my camp where I had better stuff to work with. Since the boy knew no English and my Comanche, I was assuming he was Comanche, was non existent, I put the bundle of bark in my mouth and bit down on it grimacing as if in pain.

I offered the bundle to the boy and he put it in his mouth. I sat down on the ground in front of the boy and moved his good leg to where I could push against it with my foot. Then taking the ankle of his broken leg I pulled; the boy was in horrible pain. The damn leg was not going into place, but I didn't quit pulling on it. The boy passed out from the pain and at that same instant the leg snapped into place.

I quickly put the splint on the boy's leg. I tied the reins of his horse to the pack mule after seeing that the horse could walk. Seeing no other way to get him back I very gently picked the boy up and carried him back to camp. I just hoped the kid didn't go into shock; otherwise I thought he would be all right.

We were just about half way back to my camp when the boy woke up and he started yelling at me. I didn't have a clue what he was saying so I just shushed him and kept on walking. By the time we got back to camp it was just starting to get dark. I made the boy a place to sleep and put us on a buffalo steak to cook.

While our supper was cooking I got my medical supplies out. I had an air splint but the willow splint was working just fine and not near as likely to cause as many questions to be asked. I did have some pain pills. It took a little bit but I finally got the boy to swallow it after he had eaten a small piece of his steak and it knocked him out like a light.

He woke up once in the middle of the night moaning and when I checked on him he had a fever. I got two aspirin and an antibiotic down his throat and kept a cool rag on his forehead trying to get the fever to break.

The fever didn't break until late the next afternoon. I had made some soup and was spooning some of it down him when eight braves rode into my camp. The one that seemed to be the leader called out something to the boy. He answered back but was still weak. The boy was sitting up using my saddle for a back rest. I sat the pan full of soup down and stood very slowly making sure my hands were in the open. It felt like my asshole was about to rip my shorts off, my pucker factor was so high.

The leader got off his horse and went to the boy and they talked back and forth for several minutes. Then the leader got up and walked over to me, for a few seconds I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I knew from my reading that the Comanche loved their children and didn't distinguish between their own or even adopted children be they white or otherwise. The very best hunter would go without food and water so that the children wouldn't have to. So I felt that if these were Comanche they would be glad that I had helped the boy.

The leader took out his knife and made a cut on the palm of his hand. Damn I thought, this is just like in the movies, so I took my knife out and cut my palm as well. He grabbed my hand and held it in his palm to palm. He turned and said something to the other braves and they let out a bunch of whooping and hollering. The leader said something else to the men and two of them disappeared while the others got off their ponies and let them graze on the grass around the stream.

I went back over to the boy and fed him some more of the soup. The leader followed me over to the boy and, just from the way he was speaking to the boy, even though I didn't know what they were saying I didn't have any problem understanding; the boy was the man's son and he was very glad that he was still alive.

About two hours after the leader had sent the two men off, they returned. They brought with them a bunch of horses, many pulling travois. There were also women and children with them and in short order they were setting up camp all around me. A woman rode up, she looked to be about the same age as the leader, and she went to the boy. Apparently she was the boy's mother.

She looked at the splint on the boy's leg and said something to the leader then both the leader and the boy pointed at me and said something else. While the woman and the leader were busy talking the boy smiled at me and motioned to his mouth that he was hungry.

I went over to the fire where I had the beans and buffalo soup cooking over the coals of the fire. I dipped the boy up a pan full and knelt beside the bed I'd made him and gave him the soup. Since he seemed a lot stronger I handed the pan to him but I put a blanket in his lap so the heat of the soup wouldn't burn him, being as how my fine china was a tin plate. He took a spoonful of the soup into his mouth and once he'd swallowed it he said something to me.

The woman's head snapped around so fast I was afraid that she had hurt herself and she came running towards us. For the first time since the Indians had got there I was scared. The woman looked genuinely pissed but the leader said something to her and she froze in her tracks. She gave him the same look that my mother used to give my dad on the times when he usually ended up in the guest room or on the couch. But a few more words from the leader and she seemed to have an attitude adjustment; I probably shouldn't have but I couldn't help but to let out a small chuckle. The boy grinned at me and then winked. I wonder if that meant the same to the Comanche.

I went over to the boy's horse; I had put a rub on it and wrapped it up last night. I unwrapped the leg and checked to see if it was tender and she didn't seem to be. I led the horse around a little to see how she did and she seemed fine. The leader walked over and said something in Comanche which of course I didn't understand. I know he was as frustrated as I was because the two of us couldn't communicate, but in his frustration he said, "hombre de medicina"

Now it was my turn to about break my neck doing a double take, "habla espanol?" I said to him.

"Si" he replied.

Well shit I thought, why didn't you tell me you spoke Spanish. Ok my Spanish wasn't all that great but it was a shit load better than my Comanche. And by a stroke of luck I even had a Spanish/English dictionary in my pack. I found out that Red Hawk, I had to look up Hawk in my dictionary, had been taught Spanish by the missionaries in Mexico. Now that we could talk he asked about the boy and I told him how I had found him and what I did. I didn't think it was that big of a deal but the chief thought very differently. He did ask me what I was doing here and I finally decided to tell him that I had got lost and that a bad storm had caused it. That buggered him even more. It seems their medicine man disappeared during that same storm. I don't mind telling you the thought of that medicine man running around in 2006 is a lot more chilling than me running around at what ever time this happens to be.

Red Hawk and I got to talking about where the other whites were. I was cussing myself for not being better informed on American history. The big river he talked about had to be the Mississippi but he talked like there were people going back and forth to what had to be Santa Fe. As near as I could remember the Santa Fe Trail was opened in the 1820's or 30's. Red Hawk also said that there was another trail farther to the north and I figured that had to be the Oregon Trail so that meant it could be the 1840's. Red Hawk had heard of the battle of the Alamo but couldn't remember exactly how long ago it had been but in talking with the other men of the tribe one thought that it happened in the spring of the year his daughter had been born and she was twelve seasons old. So with that bit of information I made it out to be around 1848. I had to decide what I wanted to do. For one thing I was now broke, the three hundred plus in cash and the credit cards hidden away on one of the mules was now worthless. I was deep in thought thinking about that fact when Red Hawk asked what was troubling me.

I figured explaining capitalism to a Comanche would be difficult if not impossible but I was wrong. They, as it turned out, had discovered the white man's weakness for the yellow metal. And as it just so happened Red Hawk knew where some was near by. Now I'm no geologist but I was pretty sure if there had ever been a gold mine in the panhandle of Texas I would have remembered it. Red Hawk wanted to show me where it was. He pointed to the shovel that was lying by one of the pack saddles and said bring it. So I saddled Jack, grabbed the shovel, and we took off followed by six of the men.

About ten miles from where we were camped we came up on the wrecked remains of some two wheeled carts. I remembered seeing pictures of carts like these that had carried supplies along the Santa Fe Trail. Red Hawk looked around a little and then said something to two of the men. Red Hawk called me over and I watched as they moved one of the big solid wood wheels. The wheel had become the roof for a kangaroo rat condo and the two rodent residents promptly hauled ass when it was removed.

Once the wheel was out of the way Red Hawk said to dig. Sure enough less than shovel deep I hit something. With a little more digging I had soon uncovered a strong box. It was about a foot and a half square and about two feet long. Inside it was filled with leather bags of coins. I found two bags that were filled with gold Eagles while the other bags had a mix of Spanish, English, and even a few French coins, but all of it gold.

While there was no doubt that the gold would fix me up; I didn't feel right about taking it. I tried to get Red Hawk to give me a small amount of gold so I could get established. Red Hawk told me about the tribe that had attacked the carts in the first place. They had taken some of the gold and ended up being given whiskey for it, and it was the ruin of the tribe. Red Hawk was worried that some of the weaker men in his tribe would find out about the gold and it would be the ruin of his tribe. He said that they would like some of the iron pots but other than that, everything they needed the buffalo could provide. I hated to think what would happen to Red Hawk and his people when the buffalo were gone. We put the gold into the packs and rode back to camp.

While we were gone some of the men had gone hunting and had killed a buffalo. Red Hawk's wife Little Deer had supper ready by the time we arrived. I had learned the boy's name, it was Grey Fox. Since I no longer had anywhere I needed to be, Harvard would have to wait a century and a half, I decided to stay with Red Hawk's band. They were willing to teach and I was more than willing to learn.

Over the next few weeks I went to school. And it was a school a whole lot of folks where I came from would have killed to get in. Red Hawk taught me Comanche and sign language, as well as hunting and tracking. We even practiced hand to hand combat and there, I was able to teach them some of the modern developments in knife fighting. Many of the Comanche's enemies used the lance. Broken Knife, Red Hawk's right hand man, and I had sparred with him using a lance against me with my O Katana. Broken Knife was very good, and I had the bruises and cuts to prove it, but over the weeks my skills and confidence had increased.

One day when we were out hunting we ran across a band of Pawnee and, as it turns out, they were spoiling for a fight. Red Hawk was just going to talk to them and had his hand up in the sign of peace. The Pawnee chief reached for a pistol on his belt and Little Wolf put an arrow in his heart. I figured real fast it was kill or be killed so I drew my pistol and started shooting. They were dropping pretty fast, it got down to one brave and he decided to haul ass. One of Red Hawk's men was going to go after him when I waved him off and pulled the .50 caliber Hawken out and got down on one knee. By this time he was a good hundred and fifty yards and going away when I pulled the trigger. All I can say is that Hawken sure packs a punch.

One of Red Hawk's men, my sparring partner Broken knife, took an arrow through the thigh so he and I headed back to camp so I could doctor him while Red Hawk and the others checked out the Pawnees.

Red Hawk and the others returned about half an hour after Broken Knife and I had returned. I was able to get the arrow out of Broken Knife's leg and get it sewed up. They understood the effect of infection but little else. Realising that I needed to husband my medical supplies I didn't give Broken Knife any antibiotics. My mother had convinced her doctor to give me a two week supply of cephalexin, I also had two big bottles of combiotic for the horses and mules, but it could be used on humans in a pinch.

One of the doctor's nurses was a close friend of my mother. She was given the job of cleaning out all of the samples that were nearing and past their expiration date. She picked out any and all that she thought I could use and brought them to me. So over the short run I was fine on drugs. The long run, well that was a different story.

When I was taking the EMT course we touched briefly on pharmacology. I found the subject fascinating. In high school I found that I had a natural affinity to chemistry. Our school was big enough that we had two separate chemistry courses, general, and organic. Then of course there was the honours class which took the same two courses and added to them.

One of the things we did in that class was make aspirin. We had a young teacher just out of college. He had his masters but had lost his sponsor and basically got booted out of the PhD program. Suffice to say he had a bit of an attitude problem which worked out great for us. We took his side and stroked his ego a bit and he pretty much let us run wild. He did nix Tommy Draper's plan to make some Ecstasy and, as it turned, out he got into plenty of trouble with us just making the aspirin and the simple antacids.

But I did learn something very valuable. If I could get the chemicals I could make a lot of different drugs. My one concession to the twenty first century was my laptop and a small solar cell that was capable of recharging it. Hell! If push comes to shove I could always invent the lead acid battery. Inside that laptop was the chemical formula of every drug I could get my hands on. The sulpha drugs would be the easiest and in their day they had been miracle drugs. The biggest problem would be getting the chemicals.

I went out one morning and killed a big buck and brought it back to camp. The women fell on it with a passion and in short order they had processed everything worth having. One of the lessons modern man could stand to learn from the Comanche was not wasting resources. There was precious little of a deer or a buffalo that went to waste.

I had been with Red Hawk's band for almost a month. They really liked my Dutch oven and there was a real need for steel knives. I told Red Hawk that if it was alright with him, that I would pack up and head towards Santa Fe the next day. There, I would get his people some of the things that would make their lives a little easier. I went to bed that night not thinking any more about it, but when I got up the next morning Red Hawk had done some thinking.

One subject that had come up more than once was the fact that I didn't have a mate. My age and status as a hunter and medicine man pretty much demanded that I have a wife or two. Now that I was about to head out, it seems I couldn't be trusted to take care of myself on my own. Another problem that came up was that I would be travelling alone and some of the other tribes that I could meet just might not be as friendly as Red Hawk's band.

In the end it was decided, I got no say in it mind you, that four braves would come with me. The part I wasn't quite as happy about was that Broken Knife's eighteen year old daughter was to be travelling with us. She had married a brave two years ago but he had been killed when his horse fell with him. If the truth be known I wasn't all that upset as she was cute as a bug's ear and I had kind of flirted with her in the past. Her name translated out to Tiny Bird, but I had started teasing her and calling her Sam, I don't know why, she just looked like a Sam. Whatever, it stuck and everyone in the tribe now called her Sam. I finally decided that if I had to have a mate, I could do a lot worse.

So, after packing up my mules, Sam, four young unmarried braves, and Broken Knife, we started off. Because he wanted to be away from his wife, yes even some Native Americans had shrews for a wife, Broken Knife was happy to be with us.

We had been on the trail for four days when the normal quiet sounds of horse and tack were shattered by the scream of a woman. That was followed quickly by a flurry of shots. We picked up the pace and headed to where there was a ridge above a small creek. Below us about twenty braves were attacking a dozen or so wagons.

Broken Knife informed me that they were Crow and apparently there was very little love lost between Red Hawk's Comanche and the Crow. We dismounted and had Sam hold the horses. I had shown Broken Knife how to load and shoot the Hawken so I handed it to him and we formed a plan. There were two big gullies, one on each side of where we were spread out on the ridge. The only way to get to us was straight up the hill. Broken Knife thought that put us pretty much in the driver's seat as their only other retreat was back towards the folks in the wagons.

I had my cattleman's carbine and the other boys their bows and we let loose. We dropped six on the first volley and four or five on the second and third volleys. They were down to three when they decided to rush us and those three didn't last long.

For some reason some idiot in the wagons started firing at us so I hollered out, "Hey asshole, don't shoot at us, we just saved your butts." Apparently he didn't understand so I informed the people below in English and Spanish that if they fired one more shot we'd start shooting back. That got through to them and I carefully stood up.

Sam brought up the horses and we mounted up and rode down to the wagons. Broken Knife and the four braves made sure none of the Crow were suffering while Sam and I checked on the folks with the wagons.

Sam and I rode up to a man who seemed to be in charge, "Howdy, this is Sam, and I'm Tom Dunlap."

"Milt Thorp, wagon master. Say, is them Comanche's you're riding with?"

"Yes they are. Who was the asshole who started shooting at us?"

"That was Mr. John J. Abernathy III," Milt responded with no small amount of disgust in his voice.

"And what exactly is his problem that he has to shoot at the people who were pulling his fat out of the fire."

Milt spat on the ground, "You name it, if there is anything good or decent, Mr. Abernathy is completely unaware of it."

"I see, well let me take a look at your wounded."

"You a doctor?" Milt asked.

"No, but I reckon I'm the closest thing to it in a hundred miles."

The Crow had caught these folks flat footed; their guide and three drivers were dead as were quite a few of their oxen. Along with the guide and drivers, two others were dead and six were wounded, three seriously.

I spoke to Sam in Comanche and asked her to bring my medical kit. Broken Knife had the four braves go and make sure we didn't get surprised again. Sam showed up with my kit and the two of us started sorting the wounded according to need.

We were interrupted by a man in his mid thirties, "Someone said that there was a physician with that bunch of savages."

"They are not savages, they are Comanche." I could already tell I wasn't going to get along with this peckerwood. Okay, so maybe I let Milt influence me some.

"Well no matter. Come with me young man, my wife has fainted," Abernathy ordered.

I was up to my elbows with a chest wound and a collapsed lung, he was having a hard time breathing so I was in no mood for this high brow prick, "Mister I'll get to her as soon as I take care of the wounded."

"Do you know who you are talking to? I'm John J. Abernathy III, and you will leave that commoner and come at once and take care of my wife."

I was supposed to be impressed I guess. I responded, "La de da," and finished cleaning the man's wounds. That's when he pulled out a pistol and pointed at us. I looked up at Milt, "Is he serious?"

Milt sighed, "He's been like that the whole trip ordering everyone around and having people wait on him and his wife hand and foot."

"Are you tired of it?" I asked Milt.

"I was hoping that he had been killed," Milt replied.

I turned back to the man in front of me to finish putting in the make shift chest tube and calmly told Broken Knife, "if that man doesn't leave, kill him," of course I told him this in Comanche. This prompted Mr. Abernathy to ask what I'd said, "Simple deal Mr. Abernathy, you have exactly five seconds to get the hell away from me or Broken Knife over there is going to kill you.

Broken Knife brought the Hawken up to his shoulder and pointed it at the man's head. I didn't think that, from less than fifteen feet away, he could miss.

Mr. Abernathy blustered for three of the five seconds. When I said "Four" he spun on his heels and left. "Does he always pull that little gun when he doesn't get his way?" I put the last stitch in the man's chest.

"Yes, I can't believe no one has called him on it. Say, you sure are young to be a doctor but I swear you're the best I've ever seen."

"I've just had some good training," I told the man. It was another hour before Sam and I had patched up all of the wounded men. I then decided it was time to go clean Mr. Abernathy's clock. The wagon master, Sam and I, walked over to the Abernathy wagon. Mrs. Lucille Abernathy was sitting in the shade fanning herself. Mr. Abernathy got up and came towards me and I hit the son of bitch as hard as I possibly could, right on the end of his nose. He hit the ground and reached inside his coat for his pistol. I had mine out before he could even get his hand clear, "If I see that pistol I'm putting a bullet right between your eyes. Do you understand me?"

His hand froze, I reached down and took it away from him and handed it to Sam, "Here you go Sam, you've needed a pistol for protection."

"You can't do that. You can't give my gun to that dirty squaw." Mr. Abernathy screamed at me.

I holstered my gun and reached down and picked Mr. Abernathy up by his collar. From there out it wasn't pretty, I beat on the poor bastard until I was too tired to hold him up. When I turned lose of him he dropped like a rock. I walked over to a nearby bucket that I thought was just a water bucket and poured the contents directly in Mr. Abernathy's face. As it turned out the bucket was the liquid his wife had put in there when she couldn't find her slop jar. No matter, piss or fresh water, it brought Mr. Abernathy around and I squatted down so he wouldn't have any trouble hearing me. "Mister you cross me one more time and you're dead, do you understand?"

He tried to speak but between the blood and the busted lips it didn't come out too clear so he nodded his head.

We were just about to walk away when he reached into his boot top to pull out a little single shot derringer. I caught the movement out of the corner of my eye; the son of a bitch was going to shoot me in the back. I was faster and Mr. Abernathy sprouted a neat little .44 caliber hole in his forehead, not that it mattered as Broken Knife had pulled the trigger on the Hawken at the same time hitting the man in the chest. Mrs. Abernathy screamed, "You murdered my husband!"

Milt Thorp the wagon master just glared at the woman, "Your husband drew first and there are a dozen witnesses." Milt turned to me and said, "There was nothing else you could do."

Abernathy wasn't the first man that I'd killed; the first white man, yes, but not the first man. I thought about it a minute and realised that it didn't matter. His habit of pointing a gun at someone every time he got upset was a sure way to get killed anyway in this day and time.

Mrs. Abernathy started screaming for someone named Jana; I turned to Milt with a questioning look. "One of her two indentured servants," he replied.

I felt my blood run cold, then I watched as she slapped the girl and another came running to the girl lying on the ground. That was it for me; I went in feelings first and slapped the good Mrs. Abernathy as hard as I could. "Sam, bring Jack over here." I turned to the prostrate Mrs. Abernathy, "You have two choices lady. Either you sell me their papers or one of those Crow braves is going to magically come back to life just long enough to put an arrow through you." She didn't seem to be moving as fast as I wanted so I yelled, "Now choose bitch!"

At first she looked like she was angry but the longer she stared at me the more fear I saw. "Twenty dollars, their mother owed us twenty dollars." She started getting up and dusting her self off, "I can't believe you would strike a lady," she said to me.

"I'd never strike a lady." She gasped and recoiled as if I had hit her again. "Now, is that twenty dollars for both girls?" She nodded, "Go get their papers right now." Mrs. Abernathy returned a few minutes later and signed the papers over. I gave her two gold Eagles. "I plan on helping Milt and these other people get to Santa Fe, if you want to go with us best you get your shit together lady because from now on if you can't do it yourself you better hire it done, ain't nobody else is going to be waiting on you."

I walked over to the girl that the woman had slapped, "You all right?" She smiled bashfully as I pulled out the bandanna from my back pocket and dabbed at the blood at the corner of her mouth. I could see the remains of a black eye on the other girl, "I heard the bitch call you Jana," looking up at the older girl, "what's your name?"

"Francis White, master"

"Whoa little lady, hold up right there. I bought your papers but as of right now the both of you are free, I'm nobody's master, understand?"

"But sir, the twenty dollars?" Fran gasped.

"If you want to thank someone you can thank Red Hawk, it was his gold technically. Who gave you that black eye?"

"Mr. Abernathy sir, when he raped me," her head went down and I heard her begin to cry.

"Was Mrs. Abernathy involved?" I turned and faced the lady who was now cowering behind me next to her dead husband.

"She held me down sir."

I was so mad that for a few seconds I couldn't even see. I got up and went to the squatting Mrs. Abernathy, "Is that true? Did you hold this girl down while your husband raped her?"

"She's just a servant," Mrs. Abernathy responded.

Sam had not fully understood all that had been said so she asked in Comanche what the woman had done to make me so angry. After I explained in Comanche what the two had done. Broken Knife shook his head, "How barbaric!"

If I hadn't have been so damn mad I might would have laughed, I looked down at the woman lying on the ground, "Well I'm not sure what to do, I guess we could have the trial here and hang her from that cottonwood over there."

"You can't hang me," she screamed.

"You were an accessory to forcible rape, the punishment for that is death." I was still glaring at the woman when one of the braves that had been out scouting rode up.

White Wolf had spotted another band of Crow headed our way. "How many and where are they coming from?" I asked. From what White Wolf told us, fifteen to twenty warriors were coming right up this small valley. Broken Knife pointed out the narrow area less than fifty yards upstream. I saw immediately what he was talking about. Milt moved the wagons to where they blocked being able to ride straight through. Then we had Milt divide the men into two groups and had them take cover on both sides of the creek. Now we had formed a cul de sac with rifles on three sides. I gave Sam my carbine and had her stay with Jana and Fran at the wagons. Broken Knife and I and the four braves stripped off our shirts as the Crow were all wearing full buckskins and warned any of the wagon train people to damn well watch where they were shooting. The six of us rode up over the top and back down the low ridge. The plan was to let them ride right up to the wagons, and then, to spring the ambush, the six of us would hit them from the rear.



-------

Chapter 2

Apparently the bunch that we had hit earlier had sent someone to go get help because they rode straight at the wagons. Milt had stayed with the wagons and there he ordered Sam and the all women and four of the men that were walking wounded from the earlier fight to hole up.

Milt's group's volley stung them bad, but when both sides of the less than hundred yard wide valley opened up the Crow knew they were in the wrong place all together. They had already lost over half of their warriors when one of the boys on the north bank put a bullet right through the head of the man that turned out to be the big chief. That put them at sixes and sevens as they tried to decide whether to fight or run.

Now they all wanted out and they did their damnedest to make it out of the little hell we had created. That's when the six of us hit them head on at point blank range. It must have been the very last thing they were expecting because none of them even had an arrow notched up and ready so we got our first lick in for free. I had a pistol in each hand and Broken Knife had left the Hawken with Fran and he was using his bow with deadly accuracy as was White Wolf and the others.

I was in the process of holstering my .44's and drawing one of my .36's when one of the last five Crows rode his horse into me and Jack both, knocking us ass over tea kettle. I hit the ground and rolled just missing getting stuck in the ribs with a lance. I grabbed the lance that had just missed my side and managed to unhorse another warrior that was trying to ride me down, but unfortunately the lance stuck in his ribcage and was jerked out of my hands.

Another Crow that was on foot came running at me with a knife. I don't know what he was expecting, but I managed to get hold of both of his hands and stretch them out above my head. Since he had been in a head long charge I just fell backwards. As soon as I hit the ground I had both legs pulled up against my chest. When he started falling on top on me I kicked him for all I was worth, and I wasn't aiming for his stomach.

I ended up hitting his pelvic bone and I know it had to hurt, cause it hurt me. The kick sped his flipping over my head and I rolled over and pulled out my pride and joy, at least as far as knives go. The Laredo Bowie that's made by Cold Steel is a work of art, but it's a deadly work of art. At almost sixteen inches long and weighing in at just over a pound it can do some serious damage.

I had developed an interest in knives and swords as a kid. What kid didn't? But dear ole dad's money allowed me to take lessons, and when he couldn't come and see me in competition he would just call up Cold Steel and order something for me. I'll bet he never thought that I would need those lessons as much as I needed them right now. I was also wishing I had the Warrior version O Katana that dear old Dad had bought me for going to summer school but, alas, it was on Jake. The young Crow warrior had been stunned by my kick. That had made it easy for me to draw the Bowie. When he came running at me he came in with the knife in his right hand, blade down point forward. I waited till the last fraction of a second, gave him a head and shoulder fake to his right, and then side stepped him to the left and slashed hard across his body. The result was devastating. He had brought the knife across at the last second trying to stab me, with the knife in his right hand as I moved past his left. This made his right forearm go across his chest. While his arm kept me from cutting a deep gash all the way across his chest. The Bowie sliced his forearm to the bone and caused him to drop his knife.

By this time he was the only Crow warrior left alive. He looked all around him at his dead friends and, I'm sure, family, and started singing in a loud screaming voice. I could sew up his arm but he probably wouldn't have much use of it with all the ligament damage. I looked over at Broken Knife and the other Comanche. I was real glad to see that they were all alive even though the youngest of our band, Two Bears, had an arrow sticking out of his shoulder and Broken Knife had a nasty looking cut on his forehead.

"He's singing his death song." Broken Knife called out, "He says you are a great warrior and that he is proud to have fought you. You have to kill him, it would be too much shame for him to bear if you let him live."

The Crow turned to Broken Knife and asked him something in Crow I assumed. I looked at Broken Knife, "He wants to know your name."

"Tom, Tom Dunlap, but the Comanche call me White Bear." I ran my fingers through the hair that went up the middle of my belly to where more was sprouting on my chest.

Broken Knife translated what I had said and then nodded to me. I stepped up and cut the young braves throat. My hands were shaking like an aspen leaf in a whirlwind. I walked the few yards to the creek and went to one knee. I was going to get a drink of water, but some of the Crow had fallen into the creek and it had a definite pink tint to it. I washed off the blood from the Bowie and sighed. I thought about how many men I had killed that day. I was just fixing to start feeling sorry for myself when Broken Knife put his hand on my shoulder. "Let your warrior heart rest Tom, we need the healer now."

I knew he was right, I whistled and Jack raised his head and trotted over to me, "Come on Jack, let's go get that saddle off you." Broken Knife helped Two Bears up on his horse and then mounted up himself and we rode back to the wagons.

Milt met us, "We've got some people hurt Tom, but nowhere what it would have been. I sure am glad you and your friends showed up today. Where do you want to start first?"

"Well first get four of your men and have them fan out and make sure we're not going to have any more guests."

I was looking around for Sam. "Sam has got all the wounded over there under the shade of that big Cottonwood and I'm pretty sure she has your doctoring stuff."

"Thanks Milt, can you get some one to fix some food for my friends? If they are half as hungry as I am they're starving." Broken Knife took Jack's reins to lead him off, I didn't have a whole lot of oats left but I told Broken Knife to give all of our horse's two double handfuls. Milt told Broken Knife not to worry about the feed, he'd send a man over with more oats for our horses as soon as he could.

God I was tired; with all the adrenalin gone I really just wanted to just curl up and go to sleep, but that wasn't going to happen. I looked to the west and extended my arm, three fist widths between the sun and the horizon, the sun would set in three hours. I sure hoped no one was badly hurt, but the first person I came to told me we weren't going to be lucky that way.

I saw Jana and asked, "Jana, I need a bucket of water and some soap."

She reached into a pocket on the already bloody apron and pulled out a bar of what could only be lye soap and handed it to me. She picked up a nearby bucket and poured some water over my hands. After giving my hands as good a scrubbing as I could, Jana rinsed them off and handed me a clean towel.

I quickly looked at each of the wounded. One of the men had taken an arrow just above his left eye. He had wanted to jerk the arrow out and Sam had to have Milt tie the man's hands behind his back to stop him. Milt returned and laughed, "Sam kept saying "no pull arrow out, bad! he got pretty mad about the whole thing, but we didn't let him or any of them pull it out."

"Yeah, well it tends to tear up more shit than I can fix," I replied as I dug the bag that held all of my drugs. When I found what I was looking for, "here take this pill and give it to him with some water. Wait, has he been given any whiskey by chance?"

"Twernt no chance, we gave him some on purpose," a man who had most of his front teeth missing replied.

"How much?"

"Just two or three swallows," the smiling gent answered.

"That should be just about right then," and handed the man the valium. With a little alcohol, and a little diazepam he'd be out like a light and we wouldn't have to worry about him for a while. It was a good thing because I already had a big problem, a young woman in her late teens or early twenties had an arrow stuck in her right side. "Milt, I need some chloroform or ether."

"Well, most of the wagons are hauling freight and there's one wagon with a bunch of boxes going to some doctor in Santa Fe," Milt explained.

"Go get those boxes and bring them here quick." I got down on my knees and started cutting away her dress right around the arrow trying to preserve as much of her dignity as I could.

She was in a lot of pain and she was frightened to death, she looked up at me with tears in her eyes whispering, "Am I going to die?"

I winked at her and smiled, "Not if I can help it. You're way too pretty for that. Here, take this pill for me, easy does it, now just a sip of water." She smiled; it was forced, but she tried. I took her hand in mine placing my index finger where I could get her pulse. It looked like the arrow was only in two or three inches but she was just a slip of a girl and there wasn't two or three inches of fat for that thing to be stuck in. The first thing she needed was some antibiotics. I had a bottle of combiotic in case any of my animals had got hurt. It was safe enough to use on humans, but boy howdy, back home there were lots of folks that would get their panties in a wad if they found out about using it on people. Seeing as how the federal government was going to be a long time catching up with me on any violations of their food and drug act I wasn't too worried. "Sam can you go get Jasper and bring him here?"

Sam lit out like she was on fire. I looked at the other three men lying in the shade of that old Cottonwood. Two Bears and another man had arrows in their arms. And then there was the fellow with the arrow in his head, but I didn't think it was all that bad. He was obviously hard headed and I didn't think that the arrow had gone much farther than his sinus cavity.

Sam returned with Jasper and I went to digging through the pack where the combiotic and syringes were supposed to be. I decided to give her two cc and hope the hell she'd not be allergic to it, I'd prick a place on her arm and test it, but still there was no way to be certain. As I was walking back to my patient I noticed I had attracted a crowd and it was growing. I needed some other stuff so I decided to put them to work, "I need a table, strong and stable enough that I can put her on it so I can get that arrow out. It needs to be about this high." I pointed about mid way up on my abdomen... "And I needed all that shit an hour ago." For a minute there it looked like the keystone cops, men and women running every which way.

Milt showed up with six men carrying three big boxes. Milt handed me some paper work I figured was an invoice. Half way down the page I spied it, ether and even more amazing, a Morton inhaler. I'd seen one in one of my EMT text books; it was about the first piece of modern anesthetising equipment ever made. There were also a full set of surgical tools. We were set. I decided that for this girl to have a chance I would have to do everything in my power. That meant the plastic bag of glucose and two bags of saline would come into play. I got them out as the men were fixing my operating table. Two and a half hours to sunset, I really needed to get a move on.

I sent Jana after sheets and Fran to boiling water in case I used up all my steril saline. I shooed every one away and leaned down to the girl, "Look I need to take your clothes off so I can fix you up. We'll put a sheet over you, all right?"

She just nodded, thankfully the valium was kicking in ... I started the IV and then Sam and Fran cut her dress off but left it covering her until Jana came back. When Jana got there with the sheets we covered her up save for where the arrow was. There was iodine in the doctor's supplies so I used it and cleaned the area around the arrow. I had all of my scalpels, forceps, needles and suture material. I was as ready as I was ever going to get. I put some ether into the inhaler and put it over the girl's mouth and nose and she was out like a light. I took it off and told Fran to watch her real close and if it looked like she was waking up put a little of the liquid in the inhaler and put it over her mouth and nose but not to leave it there for too long. I took one of my disposable scalpels and started making an incision.

When I got her open I saw that she had indeed been lucky. The arrow had nicked her intestines in three places. I was able to sew these up and using most of the gauze and some of the saline I was able to clean up the area around it. I realised that the one thing that I needed most was something to suction out the area. A one gallon jug and all of the extra plastic tubing that I had and ta-daa! A suction machine. Fran put it together while Jana and Sam helped me. Just fill the jug with water and turn it upside down. The water needs the air to replace the water that's running out of it and a vacuum is formed. I was looking to make sure I had everything when I ran across her appendix. I knew that back home if you had one and they were cutting on your tummy they took it out. I figured if I left it that it would go bad just from the germs I had already exposed it too. So what the hell I thought. I went in to the base of it and sutured it up. Once I was sure it was tied off, I cut it and used the last of my saline to irrigate and suck it clean.

I closed her back up, but left a gauze drain. It had taken me an hour and a half and I was fast running out of light. I was able to cut the two arrows out of Two Bears and Tim Gables. I gave both a shot of combiotic. Next was my hard headed friend, I had some men lift him up and lay him on the table. The arrow came out easy enough but I needed to flush it, but if he had a hole into his brain cavity that would kill him. So I made the outside hole bigger. Then I was able to feel that the arrow had not punctured the brain cavity. I stitched him up using the light from a lantern, now it was up to time and the Gods to heal them.

As soon as I stopped it felt like everything had caught up to me all at once. I was hungry and tired beyond belief. It felt as though I could have put my hands straight up in the air above my head and fallen through my own asshole.

Jana and Fran were suddenly in front of me. My hands were washed and a plate of beans and buffalo meat were shoved into my hands. I only ate five or six bites before I was shoving the plate away, "I'll eat tomorrow, I need some rest right now." I explained to the girls.

Before going to sleep though I went and checked on my patients. Matt Sampson, the man with the head wound, was still sleeping. Two Bears and Tim Gables were both resting comfortably in their blankets. Beth Ann Thompson was in a lot of pain. I gave her some more pain relievers and told the women who were to watch her through the night that if any thing happened to come find me. With that I let Jana and Fran lead me to my sleeping bag.

Jana and Fran had abandoned their former sleeping quarters underneath one of the Abernathy's wagons and had joined me and the Comanches. Sam scooted her naked body up against me and put her rock hard nipples into my back. Fran and Jana saw that she had stripped down and they followed suit. Three naked females and me too damn tired to do anything about it, and if that's not the shits I don't know what is.

I awoke around midnight and it was mostly quiet in camp, Jana and Fran were fast asleep when I sat up. Broken Knife sat up and looked at me, "Trouble?" he whispered.

I shook my head, "I want to go check on the girl," I whispered. I slipped on my new buckskins and the moccasins that Sam had made me, and walked over to the nearby wagon where I found Beth Ann awake. "How are you feeling?"

"Weak and sore," she reached for my hand, "who are you?"

"Tom Dunlap," I replied.

"No. Well, maybe the better question is, what are you? You're what seventeen or eighteen? What's going on?"

I wasn't sleepy anymore so I gently woke the woman who had been sitting with Beth Ann and sent her back to her wagon. "Well, I'm eighteen but it would probably surprise you to know my birthday." I smiled at her, she had a pretty face. "I was born on the second day of January 1988."

She sat in shocked silence for several minutes, "How? How did you get here?"

I shook my head, "I have no idea. I went to sleep in a thunderstorm in the year 2006 and woke up now. When ever now is." I reached over and lifted the sheet that was covering her enough to check the bandage. "I took your appendix out while I was in there. In my time it's standard procedure to remove it if they open up your tummy."

"Were you a doctor back there." She asked as she reached down to where I had cut her open.

"Lord no, I was just out of high school," she looked quizzically at me, "twelfth grade."

"But the medicine? They teach that in grade twelve?"

I sighed, "No, let me give you the short story." We talked for over an hour as I explained my life so far after extracting a promise to keep my secret. I wasn't real sure how I knew I could trust the woman but I knew. I saw her wince from the pain. "Starting to hurt?"

She nodded her head and blushed, "I need to..."

"Enough said, I'll go get the girls to come help and I'll get you something for the pain." I got Fran and Jana and told them to go give her a hand. While they were helping her I pulled out my drug bag, then I remembered that one of the boxes had some Laudanum in it. I found the paperwork and the right box and found a three gallon jug of the opiate. After digging around in the all three boxes I was finally able to decant a few drops into a small bottle of water. Returning to Beth Ann, the girls had helped her take care of her problem, and were now busy making some tea.

Jana turned to me as I walked up, "Master would you like some tea?"

I glared at her, "What did I tell you about that? And yes, I would like some tea." She cringed and I had to smile to soften my words a little. And when Jana brought me my tea, I sat it down and pulled Jana into a hug, "I'm not angry with you. Okay? But you're no one's slave and I'm no one's master." She looked up at me and smiled. I leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

As I started to release her from our hug she blushed, "I like it when you hold me like that. I..." as impossible as it seemed her face turned even redder and she fled the light of the campfire so that she could hide her embarrassment in the darkness.

I walked back to Beth Ann and gave her a spoonful of the Laudanum, "Now go to sleep, if you need anything just call out and I mean that. You mess around and pull my stitches I'll have Sam tie you to the bed like a papoose."

She smiled, "Thank you, for everything." The Laudanum was already starting to take effect and she was getting sleepy.

I left Beth Ann to sleep and went back to my now well cooled tea. Sitting down and leaning against my saddle I was deep in thought when Jana and Fran sat down beside me.

"What are you going to do with us?" Fran's question jerked me out of thoughts.

"I'm sorry, what do you mean?"

"You bought us but you say we're free, free to do what exactly? Starve?" The difference between the girls was amazing. Fran, through what had happened to her, was mature way beyond her eighteen years. She had been betrayed in more ways than one and I wondered if she would ever have that softness that her sister seemed to have.

"You'll never be hungry as long as I'm alive. Let me tell you what my plans are and you can go from there. First I want to make sure these people get to Santa Fe, and from talking to Milt that's not too far from here. Once in Santa Fe I plan to buy supplies for Red Hawk's people and take it all back to them. After that I don't really have any plans. What do you want to do?"

Fran sighed, "I don't know." She looked at her sister and then back at me, "You do know that Jana is falling in love with you. Don't you?"

Jana blushed again as the firelight reflected off her face, "Is that true?" I asked her.

She started to hide her head even more then suddenly stopped, took a deep breath, and looked at me. In those few seconds before she spoke I watched as she transformed before my very eyes, "No, I'm not falling in love with you. I am in love with you, and I will be going wherever you go."

Fran turned and looked at her sister as though she was seeing her for the very first time as I just exhaled real slowly. Fran turned to me, "Now what are you going to do?"

I put both hands on top of my head and pulled them through my hair and across my face, "I don't know, but I will not abandon you, either of you. Jana and you, if you want, are welcome to stay with me. I won't force either one of you to do anything you don't want to do. On that I will give you my word."

Fran smiled, stood up and took the few steps that separated us. Reaching up and touching my face, "I'm afraid Jana's not the only one falling in love with you. Get some rest; I'll keep an eye on Beth Ann." Fran walked over and climbed into the wagon where Beth Ann lay.

Jana got up and came to me; she sat down beside me and laid her head on my chest. I went to sleep with my fingers touching her hair.

I'm not sure what I was dreaming, but my awakening was plenty rude. Broken Knife touched my shoulder and handed me my boots and gun belt. I was instantly awake. My movement had awakened Jana so I handed her one of my .36 caliber pistols, "Go get in the wagon with your sister. Take this and stay down and quiet." I pulled my watch out of my pocket and it showed it was half past two in the morning.

I slipped my boots on and saw that Broken Knife had sent the other members of our group to get the other men up. Milt came running up with Sam right beside him. I turned to Broken Knife, "What's going on?"

By now several of the men had joined us. Two Bears spoke in Comanche and I translated to the other men. "Two Bears had got up shortly after I had gone to check on my patient. His shoulder was bothering him so he decided to take a walk. He had gone to the top of the hill on the far side of the creek. While he was there he smelled tobacco smoke and followed his nose. Just over a mile away ten men were sitting in a cold camp. Two Bears said that they were drinking but not very heavily, not like they were trying to get drunk. They were talking but since he is still learning English he only caught a few words, but enough to know they were talking about the wagon train. He was about to leave when the man that seemed to be the leader spoke to an Arapaho. He told him to kill our sentry one hour before dawn and then signal by imitating an owl followed by a dove."

I turned as Milt started to speak, there was just enough light from the moon to see the worry on his face, "That must be the bunch that has been hitting wagon trains all up and down the trail. They only hit the small trains, and I thought we were big enough to avoid them. What do you think Tom, those men intended to come in here while we're all still asleep. The other trains they hit they killed everyone, women and children included, most folks thought it was Indians."

I had an idea but was worried about getting flanked, "How deep is that creek upstream of the camp?"

One of the men spoke up, "That boy of mine has been swimming in it every chance he gets. He says that from that big Cottonwood all the way past the next bend it is real deep, over his head with his arm stretched above it on this side. That boy is almost five foot tall so that would put it over seven feet." The man pointed downstream, "And downstream the bank is fifteen to twenty feet tall. The only place they can cross is there at the ford."

That was going to make it a lot easier, and I couldn't help but get a smile on my face. "You have an idea?" Milt asked.

One of my passions was military history. I had studied in detail all of the great military minds. I had found the Peninsula Wars to be the most fascinating. During the Peninsula Wars small bands of basically ordinary people fought Napoleon's armies to a standstill. It was where the word guerrilla warfare came from, guerrilla meaning small war. They had won by ambush and manoeuvrability. I had read as many of the accounts as I had been able to get hold of and one of those was a situation very similar to this.

"Yeah, here's what we need to do, Broken Knife will take his men and kill the Arapaho that is coming for the sentry." I stopped long enough to explain what I wanted him to do. Broken Knife called Two Bears and told him to go and keep watch on the men. "Next, let's get the women, children, and livestock over that hill there. Beth Ann is going to be the hardest one to move because you're going to have to be real careful and all this has to be done silently." I noticed one of the men had a knife out and had been nervously sharpening a stick, "How many sticks that size can we get sharpened on one end?"

He got a puzzled look on his face, "What ever for?"

"That's pretty narrow, just over the width of a wagon, there where the bank is low and the water is shallow isn't it?" I got several yesses and nods, "Sharpen as many of those sticks as we can and push them in the ground. If we have to we can cut some of that thorny brush and make it where they have an even narrower path to get up here to the wagons. We'll also put some ropes about ankle high. We'll let them get across the stream. We put half of us facing them and the other half on the right. That way we won't be shooting at each other cause remember it's going to be dark. You absolutely have to shoot straight ahead and nowhere else."

A boy that looked to be about twelve or thirteen said, "Why don't we get some of that green brush that mama used to use to start the fires?"

"Out of the mouth of babes," I said.

"I ain't no babe," he complained

"No you're sure not. All right fellows, lets get busy quietly." I sent Broken Knife and Red Hand to kill the Arapaho they were sending after the sentry. As soon as he was dead Two Bears would come tell me. I had to go around and tell everyone not to shoot any of my friends.

It took some doing but we were able to move the women, children and livestock over the hill and, with the exception of a crying baby, it was very quiet. I called White Wolf and Lone Elk to me and asked them if they would guard the women and children because I didn't really trust anyone else to do it. Lone Elk said something that I didn't understand which set White Wolf to chuckling. When I asked him to explain he told me to ask Broken Knife and then grinned and the two of them went to take up a position where they could protect their charges. I heard the signal we had agreed on for coming back into the camp. I got Milt and the other men's attention and gave our counter signal. Broken Knife, Two Bears, and Red Hand came trotting into camp and reported that they were on the way and the Arapaho was dead.

In the two hours that we'd had to prepare, the small pile of the highly flammable brush had grown to a low wall. We had dug in as best we could and where we couldn't we had moved anything and everything in for cover. Tommy, the twelve year old, had made and tested a way of lighting the brush using an old flintlock pistol that had a split barrel. I had found out that the boy had been orphaned on the way out. All he had in this world was the wagon full of stuff that had been his parents, a five year old sister, and more brass than a bedstead. The boy insisted that it was his idea and since he was the man of his family he should stay and fight. We dug a hole and he got in it with his pistol, a single shot that was nearly as big as he was, and the string that would set the brush off. "Keep your head down." He nodded his head and I took my position.

We heard the signal that said they were in position and wanting to know if the Arapaho had done his job. Broken Knife gave them the answer that they thought they wanted to hear. In a few minutes we heard them crossing the shallow part of the stream. A few minutes later we heard the leader, "Remember Red, kill everyone. If you want to keep a woman or two for later make sure she doesn't live through your fun."

They came up through the narrow alley we had formed with the thorny brush. When they got to the right spot I reached over and tapped Tommy on the shoulder. He pulled the string and a flash of gunpowder lit the brush which burned like it had gasoline on it. Our attackers turned and looked at the flames like they couldn't quite believe what they were seeing. "Fire" I screamed and it got loud fast. I had been aiming at the leader and he was the first one to drop. A couple of the men tried to run into what looked like the only spot open to them. They were soon screaming as they tripped and fell on the sharpened sticks. Their screaming sent the survivors running for the stream. Two were shot in the back before they could reach it; the three remaining ran into Broken Knife, Two Bears, and Red Hand. As soon as they saw the three Comanches they tried to bring their guns up but the Comanches had them disarmed before they could fire a shot.

I looked around, "Is everybody all right?" There was a lot of excited talk for a few minutes but it seemed that we'd not had one single casualty. The brush was just about burned out and darkness was starting to creep back. The first rays of sunrise due any minute, I grabbed a lantern and lit it. Holding it above my head signalled Lone Elk that the women could come back. We split up our group again and half went to help the women while the rest of us moved the bodies. I had just got a hold of the leaders arm when Broken Knife walked up to me. I ask him about the phrase that Lone Elk had used. Imagine my surprise to find out it meant I was full of buffalo shit. Hell! I could have told him that a long time ago.

We had planned on leaving today, but with so little sleep we decided to spend another day. The only problem with that was that we were going to have to bury seven men. The three men that we captured presented a problem and it was one that would require some serious thinking.

As soon as the sun came up we were looking over the men who had attacked us. Milt recognised the leader. He was the brother of the military governor of Santa Fe and if that wasn't bad enough, one of the three that we hadn't killed yet was that same Governor's son. Turning them over to the authorities in Santa Fe didn't look like an option.

The governor's son had a mouth on him and when he heard us discussing what we were going to do he started using it. "When you get to Santa Fe my father will hang you for this."

Every time we started to talk he would scream what his father was going to do. After the third time I walked over to him and undid his belt and let his pants drop to the ground. I took out my Bowie knife and cut his shirt and long underwear off. Now he was standing naked, I reached down and got hold of his dick, "If you open your mouth one more time," I laid the edge of the Bowie against his dick. The knife was sharp and it made a nice cut that he had no problem feeling, "I will cut your dick off and stick it in your mouth. Do you understand me?" He started to say something and I put more pressure on the knife and it bit a little deeper. "Best you nod your fucking head because if you speak..." He started nodding his head. I glanced at the other two men standing on each side of him. The younger of the two was trembling; I called out to Broken Knife in Comanche and asked him to bring me some salt and a piece of the one inch rope that was lying by the wagon.

Broken Knife walked up and showed me that he had a handful of salt in one hand and the rope in the other. Having seen the Cold Steel videos many times it always impressed the hell out of me how one of their knives could cut a piece of one inch rope that's just hanging. I told Broken Knife to hold the rope by the end at arm's length from his body. When he was ready I nodded my head and in one smooth motion the rope fell in two pieces. I sheathed my knife and let him pour the salt into my hand. I then took it and as I started dribbling the salt into the cut, "Remember if you speak..."

Broken Knife visibly shivered. I was pretty sure he was acting but it had the desired effect. The one that had been trembling earlier peed in his pants. I was glad that no one laughed out loud although I saw several turn their backs to hide their giggles.

I told Broken Knife to bring the boy with the wet pants and we would find out what all he knew. We saddled up our horses and took the pee soaked boy over the hill and away from the eyes and ears of the women, children, and the other two prisoners. The 'we' in this case was just about every male in the group. Two of the men objected to torture on moral grounds. I whispered into their ears that I didn't think it would be necessary but I did want them to come and make sure. In spite of what I'd done to the governor's son, I really wasn't blood thirsty.

When we had him far enough away I started in on him. "Young man, we only got a few hours sleep last night so we're really not in the mood to waste a lot of time with you. I am giving you the opportunity to tell us everything you know about the men you were with this morning. If you don't take this opportunity I am turning you over to Broken Knife here. It's my understanding that he knows many, many creative and unpleasant ways of getting information out of folks. Normally I'm a peaceful person but between you assholes and the Crow I personally have had to kill fifteen people."

"Bull shit! You've killed twenty or twenty five men just since I've known you and one of them with your bare hands. Broken Knife told me that a few weeks ago you killed six Pawnee," Milt interrupted.

Milt's interruption worked like a dream. The boy started talking without anyone putting a finger on him. The Governor's plan was to create a situation where he could raise his own army to fight the 'Indians' that were attacking the wagon trains. After that he was going to declare New Mexico a sovereign country with him as the King. The boy said that normally they wouldn't have attacked a wagon train as large as this one but they had been given specific orders to attack this one, but he didn't know why. He was pretty sure the Governor's son could tell us a lot more. When he was through Milt let out a long slow whistle and said, "We have fallen into a big mess."

I was between a rock and hard place, and the catalyst behind all of it had never made the history books or at least none that I had ever read. That put me to thinking. Could I have already changed the timeline? That felt like an instant headache so I derailed that train of thought. "Will there be troops at Las Vegas?" Author's Note: Las Vegas New Mexico

Milt nodded his head, "Should be. Who do we send for them or do we just head that way?"

"How far is it?" I asked him.

"Sixty, seventy miles at least,"

"The problem is Beth Ann, travelling in those wagons could kill her," I was trying to think of what else we could do when one of the men spoke up.

"Mr. Dunlap, no one, not even that girl, expects to live through getting gut shot,"

I just stared at the man it took several minutes for my anger to pass, "You may be expecting her to die but I don't." Turning to Milt I asked him, "Can we rig a bed in that wagon like a hammock or something like that?"

Broken Knife tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned to face him, "Travois better."

I nodded my head, You're probably right. Can we leave here in the morning?" Milt nodded, "Well let's do that. Broken Knife, can you and the guys go over to their camp and pack it up? Do some of you men want to go help?"

"What are we going to do with him now?" one of the men asked.

I held up my hands, and Two Bears used his good arm to throw me the bundle he had been carrying. I opened it up it was a dress and a bonnet, "Untie his hands." Broken Knife untied him. When he was free, "Take your pants off."

"Why?" he cried.

I slipped the dress over the boy's head. "Because you don't normally wear them under a dress, come to think of it, slip that dress back off and take your shirt off too." He did as he was told, "Men as far as anyone is concerned this boy didn't come back with us right? We'll tie him up in one of the wagons and he is going to be on his very best behaviour. Right?" He nodded his head. I put the bonnet on him and with his baby face he'd easily pass for a girl as long as they didn't get close enough to smell him ... Turning to the boy it seemed strange calling him that he was only about a year younger than I was, "If you escape just know this, you will probably hang for your part in these murders, but hanging is an easy way to die compared to what will happen if Broken Knife and I have to go looking for you. Do you understand me?"

"Yes sir," he replied and put his head down I heard him sob. I wish I could have felt sorry for him but I couldn't, all my sorrow went to their victims.

We returned to the wagons; no one paid any attention to the girl that returned with us, but the blond headed kid that we had left camp with was noticeably missing.



-------

Chapter 3

When I got back Sam wanted to know what we had found out from the boy. As I explained to her, Fran, and Jana, I noticed that Fran seemed to have her mind on something else. I gave them all the information that I had and went to check on my patients.

The jostling Beth Ann had taken being moved to safety and back had taken a toll on her. She was also pretty unhappy with the diet that I had her on. Two of the other ladies in the wagon train had come around to check on her. Actually the reason they were there was to see for themselves that she was still alive, they had been busy with children during the early morning move. People in this day and age did not survive being gut shot. When they walked up I was just taking the thermometer from her mouth. "No fever! That's good."

"How can she not have a fever?" One of the women asked. The ghoulish bitch almost sounded upset that Beth Ann didn't have a fever.

"She doesn't have a fever because I closed up all of the places that would cause infection. That and I gave her some medicine to keep her from getting sick.

The woman was shaking her head, "It's not natural. It's just not natural." The two ladies turned and went back to their wagons.

"Singing pigs," I said.

Beth Ann looked at me her eye brow arched, "Singing pigs?"

"Yeah, it comes from this: never try to teach a pig to sing, it wastes your time and annoys the hell out of the pig."

Beth Ann laughed then grimaced in pain, "Don't make me laugh. It hurts when I laugh."

I saw Jana's face cloud over and turned around to see what had caused it. Walking towards us was Mrs. Abernathy, Jana came to me and I put my arm around her shoulder and waited for her to catch up to us. "What can I do for you Mrs. Abernathy?

"I don't have anyone to pack up my things," she said while standing there, trying her best to look aloof.

This woman still left a bad taste in my mouth, "And why exactly can't you pack your own kit?"

"I ... I've never done it for one thing. Who will be driving my wagon tomorrow?" she asked.

"Well you need to go talk to Milt and I suggest you take some gold with you because you are going to have to hire some people. From what I've seen of the way you and your dead husband treated the people on this train you aren't going to find anyone that is going to help you for free and that boy we questioned this morning made it clear that your husband was involved in that as well. So get your money out and maybe, just maybe, for fifty dollars or so you can get some help. Otherwise we leave you here to your own end." She had walked over to us a princess but she walked away a broken woman.

Turning back to Jana I asked, "Where's Fran?"

"She left a little bit ago with Sam, they didn't say where they were going," Jana answered and then smiled.

I turned toward Jana and wrapped both my arms around her. A curl of her beautiful auburn hair had fallen down into her left eye. I took and wrapped my finger in it as I gazed into her eyes. "You're very beautiful. Did you know that?"

Jana looked into my eyes as I stared back at hers, "I never felt that I was beautiful," she began, "until I met you. I don't think that I was even alive before I met you."

I had never felt about any girl the way that I felt about Jana. Every time I saw her I had this urge to hold her. I pulled her tighter and with my nose in her hair I inhaled deeply, bathing my nose with her smell. For a brief few seconds I allowed my senses to completely merge with hers. Suddenly I was overcome with the desire to kiss her, to feel those lips against mine, and without any thought to any one around us I did just that.

Our lips met and I felt something that I had never felt before, it felt as though I could fly. When we finally broke our kiss the only thing that I could get out of my mouth was, "Wow!"

Jana just melted more into my body and that's how we were when Fran and Sam walked up. Fran took one look at mine and Jana's faces and asked, "What just happened here?"

Before either of us could answer Beth Ann, who had witnessed the kiss through the open side of the wagon responded, "Love just happened," she sighed, "it was amazing to watch."

"Well little sister, if you can turn loose of your man for a minute, Sam and I have brought you some travelling clothes." Jana turned and took the buckskin shirt and pants that Fran handed her.

"Tom, I've been thinking," Fran started, "for this governor to form an army, he'd need guns wouldn't he?"

"Yeah, I guess he could take some from the federal troops in the area, but they'll need some guns to do that."

Fran started nodding her head and a sly smile started to form on her face, "That boy you questioned said they had specific orders to attack this train, right?"

It was plain as day that she had figured out something, "What are you on to?"

Fran got up, "Come on, I want to show you something."

Jana and Sam and I followed Fran over to the Abernathy wagons. I hadn't realised that there were four wagons, "Who did he have driving these?" I asked Fran.

"Two of them were killed in the first attack and the third is the man with the chest wound. He's not going to be fit to handle a team is he?" Fran responded.

"No, he's past caring, he didn't make it. Now what is it you want to show me?"

I watched as Fran walked over to a sapling about five feet tall, "Cut this off as close to the ground as you can." My Bowie knife made short work of the sapling and I handed it to her. Fran walked over to one of the three freight wagons. Holding the end of the stick flush with the bottom of the wagon she marked the stick at the top rail with her finger. Now she had a measure of the depth of the wagon she threw back the tarp that was covering the wagon and pushed the stick down to the bed of the wagon. Her fingers were over twelve inches above the side wall of the wagon, "Do you think that this wagon has a bottom that's over a foot thick?" her smile was amazing.

"Fran I could just kiss you." I started towards the back of the wagon to undo the tail gate.

"Hey where are you going? What about my kiss?" Fran was giggling now. I was going to just give her a peck but she had other ideas. She gave me a kiss very much like the one I got from her sister earlier. To my surprise I felt myself responding to it the same way, when we did break the kiss we were both weak kneed.

Now that the kissing was out of the way I went back to undoing the back of the wagon. Mrs. Abernathy had heard us and came around the corner, "What are you doing Mr. Dunlap?"

"I'm trying to find out why this wagon has a false bottom in it. I don't suppose you have any idea do you?"

She stared at me as though I had two heads, "False bottom?"

I had just got the two boards that had been slid down a slot formed by two one bys. The bottom section was still closed off however and I could see several big nails that were going to keep it that way. Jana appeared out of nowhere with a hammer and a nail bar and I put them to good use.

When the board finally came loose I could see that the hidden space was packed with wooden crates. I pulled one out and pried the top off of it. I let loose a low whistle. The crate was filled with Walker Colts in .44 caliber, each in its own box

There was a rope that had been lying on top of the crate. I pulled it and another much longer crate came out. Taking the top off this revealed a case of lever action Henry rifles. Now I knew something was wrong. "Fran what year is it?"

"It's 1847 you ninny, why do you ask a silly question like that?"

"Sam go get Broken Knife and bring back my saddle bags, Jana go get Milt." I didn't know what was going on but something was wrong. I knew the history of the Henry rifle, I had a replica back home and I knew that it was invented in 1860, so what was a crate of them doing here thirteen years early. I looked at Mrs. Abernathy and she seemed genuinely surprised but I had to ask, "You knew nothing about these?"

"No, honest Mr. Dunlap I've never seen a rifle like that."

"What do you know about the Governor in Santa Fe?"

"I know that he and my husband were in business together. My husband promised me that we would be treated like royalty for what we were doing." She looked up more frightened and broken than ever before, "He was doing something bad wasn't he?"

"Yes, Mrs. Abernathy, he was. Try treason." It was a good thing Broken Knife was close by because Mrs. Abernathy's eyes rolled into the top of her head and she fainted. Broken Knife caught her in his arms and carried her to a place in the shade. Fran had gone with him and loosened the woman's collar and then went and got a cool wet rag to wipe her face. When she had recovered I asked Fran and Broken Knife to come back to the freight wagon. By now Milt had shown up and he was looking at the rifles and not really believing what he was seeing.

I looked around, "Milt, Jana, and Fran I need your word of honour that what I am about to tell you goes no further that right here." They all gave their word and I reached in to my saddle bags and dug out my wallet. Opening it up and removing my driver's license I handed it to Milt.

He stared at it for several minutes before asking, "I don't understand, what is this?"

"That is my license to drive a motor vehicle, something you don't have in 1847 but something we had more of than we needed in 2006 where I came from." I waited as they tried to digest the strangeness of it all.

"You're from the future. That's why you're so smart on military stuff ain't it?" Milt asked.

"Yes and these rifles are too, they weren't even invented until 1860. Look I don't know what's going on here; the history of New Mexico that I know never mentions anything like this happening.

"What do we do now?" Milt asked

"I don't know other than we don't let these guns fall into the hands of that Governor. I'm not sure I want the army to get a hold of them either."

Milt's face took on a real puzzled look, "Why's that son?"

"In my history, Broken Knife's people are hunted down and slaughtered. They are given land only to have it taken away when it's found to be valuable. I had already made up my mind that I was going to change that part of history."

"How can you do that?" Milt asked a worried look on his face.

"By making the Comanche strong. I don't know exactly how yet, maybe by using the governor's idea and forming a country."

"Won't you have to fight the government if you do that?"

"Milt, in just a few years the United States is going to tear itself in half over slavery. Hundreds of thousands will die and it will leave an open wound that is still bleeding in 2006, and if there are more of these it will be even worse. I don't know what the right thing to do is. I just know that what happens is wrong and has to be stopped. The question is what do we do with these?"

Mrs. Abernathy had recovered enough that she had rejoined us, "If those guns are within the reach of the man they were meant for no one will be safe."

Milt turned to me, "I never did ask why you were headed to Santa Fe."

"We were going there to get pots, pans, blankets and other stuff that would make Red Hawk's peoples lives easier. Something that every white man needs to know is the Comanche have families too and the problems they face are the same as anyone else. They want a future for their children and grandchildren just like any of you would."

Mrs. Abernathy started pulling the tarp back on the freight wagon, "What's wrong with this stuff?"

I had been so wrapped in the guns that I hadn't even looked in the wagon. There, big as life, was all kinds of cast iron cook ware, as well as blankets and other goodies. The other two wagons all held more of the same.

Milt looked at me, "Looks to me like you and Mrs. Abernathy need to make some kind of trade."

I turned to Mrs. Abernathy, "I can pay you in gold." I don't know what I expected her to say, but it wasn't what she said.

She looked at me and with a tear filled face, "You can have it all on two conditions. That's if Fran will try to forgive me and you will take me with you. These people hate me and they have absolutely no reason not to. You seem like the kind of man that would give a person a second chance and that is what I want." I started to look around and see if Broken Knife would catch me if I fainted. I looked at Fran as she walked over to Mrs. Abernathy and put her arm around the woman's shoulder and the tears began to fall from both of them.

I turned to Milt saying, "Well it looks like we will be going back to the plains." I pulled out ten of the Walker Colts and handed them to him.

Milt smiled as he took the guns, "You may as well take all that medical stuff. Is there anything else your people could use?" Milt asked.

"Yeah, light saddles, pack saddles, horse blankets and tack, if you were to come up with some of that kind of stuff we could make it worth your while. Milt, you know that these rifles change everything don't you? Those three prisoners, two of them need to be dead. You know that, right?"

Milt sighed, "Yeah, I don't trust the governor's son anyway. Can you fellows take care of it?"

"Yeah, consider it done," I told him.

"What about the wounded? Do you have any instructions on any of them?" Milt asked

"The man with the chest wound didn't make it. The man with the head wound seems none the worse for the wear. Beth Ann is the only one I'm worried about." I looked over to see Jana shaking her head, "What?" I asked.

"If you think you are going to leave her with this train you better think again. She is planning on going with us, she just hasn't heard that we are leaving early." Jana was smiling.

Milt headed back over to the main cluster of wagons, I turned to Mrs. Abernathy, "What can I do to help you be ready to leave?"

"I ... the girls always packed everything up. Could one of them come and show me how? I'll do it, I ... I just don't know where to start."

Jana walked over to the woman and took her hand, "Come on, I'll help you. Can I call you Lucille?"

For the first time since I'd known the woman a smile crossed her face, "Please call me Lucy."

"All right Lucy, let's get ready to roll." Jana's laughter was enough to get Lucy started and they walked off laughing and giggling.

I walked over to Beth Ann's wagon, "How's my star patient?"

Beth turned towards me, "Upset with you. I was just told that you are going back to Texas without me."

"In my defense, I didn't know you wanted to go."

Beth sighed, "I started on this trip with my aunt and uncle. They died a month ago and I really don't want to be in a strange place all by my self. I like you and the girls so I guess I'll take my chances with you."

"Do you have any livestock that we need to know about?"

She smiled, "Just ten mules, the six we pull the wagon with and four extra. We were rotating them to give some of them a rest."

I was about to go and find something to eat when Tommy Davidson showed up, "What's up Tommy?"

"Huh?" Tommy responded and looking up in the air, "I don't see anything that's up."

"I'm sorry Tommy, let me rephrase that. What can I do for you?" I guess it would sound a little funny a century and a half out of place.

"Is it true that you and the Comanche are going back to Texas tomorrow?" Tommy asked.

"Yes, we've got what we came for and we need to get back. Why?" I had a sinking suspicion as to why and seeing Milt headed this way was only adding to it.

Tommy was standing there trying to make himself look as big and old as he possibly could but there was just so much he could do with what he had to work with. As twelve year old boys went he was on the short side and thin as a rail to boot. But spirit? That the boy had in spades. He had shown it during the fight with the men earlier that morning and he was showing that same spirit right now. "We want to go with you, my sister and me. If we go to Santa Fe they'll split us up and take away everything we have. Some of the women on this train have already tried it. They want to take my sister and raise her but they don't want me and we don't want to be split up."

I wasn't sure what to do, but Milt was here so I figured to let him in on the deciding, "Milt, do you know what this young man wants to do?" I watched out of the corner of my eye as Tommy stood a little straighter when I called him a young man.

"Tom, if you don't take him with you I'm not going to be able to stop these people from splitting these kids up. And I really would hate to see that."

"Tommy, what do you need to be ready to move out?"

"I sure would like to grease the wheels on that wagon, but I need help to get it done quick enough," his face had a million watt smile on it.

"Let's go." I told him and it must have just been too much for the boy as he let loose a "yippee" that made me feel good all over.

Tommy's excitement was more than he could hold, "I'll run ahead and get everything ready."

With that Tommy was off like a shot leaving Milt and me to talk. "There's going to be a couple of women that are going to pitch a fit when they find out that those two are going with you. They were trying to split those two kids before their parent's bodies were even cold. I really am glad that you're taking them kids."

"I didn't have any brothers or sisters but if I'd had some I sure wouldn't want someone trying to split us up."

Broken Knife walked up to us and handed Milt a six foot long stick that was painted and had two feathers and a piece of buffalo horn on the end of it. He then started explaining what it meant in Comanche. When he finished I turned to Milt, "Any time you're going through Comanche territory carry this where it can be seen. You will be left alone unless you start it."

Milt took the gift and offered his hand to Broken Knife. As they shook hands Milt added, "Broken Knife, it has been a real pleasure knowing you and the other members of your tribe. I will always consider you my friends."

Broken Knife nodded his head, "Friends." Broken Knife walked back over to where the girls were getting stuff ready to go.

Milt was shaking his head, "No one is going to believe that not once, not twice, but three different times a small band of Comanches saved this wagon train. Tom you have a chance to make a big difference. I hope you use all the wisdom that I know you have." Milt went on to finish his preparations. I went to help Tommy.

It took Tommy and me till nearly dark to get the wheels greased and everything checked out on his wagon. His little sister was an absolute doll, she watched and helped where she could. We were cleaning our hands when she looked at Tommy, "Tommy I'm hungry, how long before you have supper ready?"

I picked the little doll up and we started walking back to the area where our group had got together. "How about you eat supper with us, would that be all right?" Amy got bashful and just nodded her head, "You're not bashful are you?" She buried her face in my shoulder.

We were just walking into our area when a woman came running up screaming at me, "You can not take that girl away to live with those savages."

I sat Amy down, "Amy go over there to Jana and she'll get you something to eat." Jana immediately scooped Amy up and Fran stepped between them and the angry woman.

"Don't you ignore me!" The woman screamed at me.

But before I could answer Lucy Abernathy walked up to Broken Knife and put her arm around him, "Are you talking about this man? You know, the one that risked his life what, three times to save yours? Is that who you are calling a savage? Do you really think that six white men would have risked their lives to save ours? They could have just ridden on by. This young man," she walked over to Two Bears, "was wounded fighting for our lives, have you asked how he is? Have you thanked any of them for your miserable life? No, you haven't and you won't because you don't think they are your equals. Well you know what? You're right, you're not their equal because they're your betters. Now if you had made an effort to take care of those two children when they were first orphaned you might have an argument. As it is, neither you nor any one else have a claim on those two kids. If they go with Mr. Dunlap and turn out to be half the person he is they'll be great. Now go back to your wagon and let us eat our supper in peace."

The woman's head went down and she walked away. I just put my hands together and started clapping. The others joined me and Lucy's face went blaze red, but it didn't deter her from her task. She filled a plate and handed it to Two Bears, "Thank you for fighting for us and saving our lives." She then kissed him on the cheek.

I explained to Two Bears what she had said and what she was feeling and when she brought Red Hand his plate and thanked him, Two Bears touched her arm and said, "You are well come." That had been the last straw for Lucy. She had been on an emotional roller coaster in the last twenty four hours. She started crying and ran to her wagon. Poor Two Bears was scared to death. He was jabbering at me in Comanche so fast that I couldn't catch one word in ten. Jana went to check on Lucy and I tried to explain to Two Bears that he hadn't said anything wrong.

Fran had picked up where Lucy left filling plates and taking them to the men, but she only delivered one plate when a tear stained Lucy had returned with Jana holding her hand. Lucy finished getting the men their food and got a plate for herself. She walked over to Broken Knife, "May I sit here?"

Broken Knife looked to me for a translation, but before I could give it Lucy asked me how to ask the question in Comanche. I told her and she turned to Broken Knife and asked him.

He smiled broadly and responded, "Yes, sit please."

I looked around me. What a strange group of people I had gathered about me and strangely enough they felt like family. Not family like I had left behind but a kind of family that I needed. Even if right now I wasn't sure where my place in that family was, there were a lot of things on my mind. As I sat there eating supper and thinking about what we needed to do next, I was unaware that Fran was talking to me.

Fran got up and walked over to me. She sat on the log beside me, her hand touching my face, "You were miles away."

"I'm sorry, what?" I looked around the campfire, it was ringed with smiles.

"You had a far away look on your face. What's the matter?" Fran's touch was gentle and loving.

"So much to do, and now I have a whole lot more to be responsible for." I knew if I let myself I could slip into a funk pretty easy.

I guess Fran knew that too, "You take care of Tom and we'll help you all we can. Just don't worry about what you can't change, that won't help us at all." Fran followed her encouragement with a light kiss. And I'll be damned, if everything wasn't all better.

I had long ago shown Broken Knife and the braves how to load and shoot my pistols, I had been afraid that something would happen to me at the time. Now I was glad that I had done it. Before it got dark we broke out a pair of the .44 caliber pistols for Broken Knife and the others. In the other wagons we had found a case of .36 caliber pistols and I made sure that all the women had at least one, Sam took two of them.

I was afraid that the Henry's would draw too much attention but at the same time I didn't want to be without them. So, as a compromise, we took one of the boxes that held ten of the rifles and loaded them and put them back in the box. We put the box where we could get at it easily. By the time it was good and dark we were plenty tired. It had been a very long day right on the heels of a very short night.

Tommy and Amy decided to stay with us so Fran fixed them a pallet in the wagon with Beth. Sam, Jana, Fran and I made our bed under one of the freight wagons. Broken Knife and the others spread out around our camp and started bedding down. Two Bears would slip out and keep an eye on us for a few hours and then swap with one of the others later. I, for one, was hoping for a quiet night.

It was a warm night. I had a sheet that I liked to keep over me to thwart the mosquitoes. I stripped down and was just about asleep. Sam, Fran and Jana were giggling about something over by Beth's wagon. What ever it was it didn't take long for me to be wide awake when they slid into bed. Sam got on the left, Fran on the right, and Jana crawled right up on top of me, "Well hello there." I said.

Jana kissed me and then rose up, "Sam says that in the Comanche culture a man is not limited to one wife."

Boy, did I ever get a sinking feeling, I looked from one to the other, "You three?" Three heads were shaking negatively, "Am I supposed to guess?"

"No silly, Beth can't get down here yet," Jana giggled. "I see, well do we need to go to Beth's and work out the details?" I started to move the sheet aside like I was about to get out of bed.

"No! You stay right where you are." Fran thought that I was serious until she saw the grin spread across my face, "Oh, you! You're teasing us."

Then I heard a phrase in Comanche that I remembered hearing but couldn't recall the meaning right away, but the girls quickly refreshed my memory. And believe you me I won't soon forget if the girls decide that I need tickling again.

I felt Fran get up some time after midnight. As soon as I was able to wiggle out from underneath Jana I got up as well. The two of us found Beth still resting quietly and started back to our beds. A quick look around and I noticed that both Broken Knife and Two Bears were both missing from their beds. I walked over to Red Hand, "Is there trouble?" motioning to the two empty blankets.

Red Hand pointed to Lucy Abernathy's wagon and indicated that Broken Knife was in there. Fran and I walked over to the wagon. When we walked to back of the wagon we could hear Lucy crying. I pulled back the flap and Fran and I looked inside. There sitting on the bed was Broken Knife, he was holding the fully clothed Lucy in his lap gently rocking her as she cried. From a historical and cultural point of view it was quite shocking, the Comanche warrior comforting the fallen socialite. For me, knowing the kind of man that Broken Knife was, it was no surprise. But then after almost a month with the Comanche I had learned that they were just like any other group of people. They're good and bad, what the tribe or band did, depended on the leader of that band or tribe.

Fran and I walked back to our sleeping area, "Why was she crying like that?" Fran asked.

"I expect that today for the first time in her life she came face to face with who she really was and that frightened her more than she wanted to admit."

"But why Broken Knife? Why not you?" Fran stopped and put her arms around me and laid her head on my chest.

"That's easy, in Broken Knife she found a kindred soul. Broken Knife's wife is very much like the late Mr. Abernathy. She was the daughter of the Shaman and she never let's anyone forget it. Red Hawk was just about ready to do something with her when we left. I think that is why he wanted Broken Knife and his daughter Sam to come with me on this trip."

"So their families are just as complicated as ours."

"Well, I've only been with them about a month but I'd say yes. On the outside it's a patriarchal society, but in practice it still comes down to something that I heard my Dad say."

Fran raised her head up off my chest, "Oh! What's that?"

A chuckle escaped as I thought back on that day, "My Dad said he wore the pants in our family, and he had my mother's permission to say so."

Fran covered her mouth quickly to keep from waking everyone in the camp. We eased into bed. It seemed as though I had just closed my eyes when I felt three different sets of lips coaxing me from my slumber.

The eastern sky was beginning to light up; I returned the kisses and slipped my buckskins and boots on and waited on a cup of tea. With tea in hand I walked down to Tommy's wagon to check on him but I didn't have to see him to know he was in trouble. I gave the bird call that Broken Knife had taught me and in two shakes of a lamb's tail I had backup. Not only Broken Knife and the warriors, but Fran, Sam, Jana, and Lucy and every one armed to the teeth. Sam had even brought my O Katana. Truth be known she was probably packing it for the ride when the alarm went out.

Tommy was standing by the front wheel of his wagon with both of the .36 caliber revolvers that I had given him the night before. Both had the hammers back and he was ready to kill the next person to make a grab at his little sister. The loudest of this bunch was a man named Charles Damron.

I remembered him as the only man who had objected to fighting to protect the wagons during the last two attacks the day before. He had wanted to go with the women and children rather than stay with the rest of the men. Tommy settled his hash when he called him a coward and told him to tuck his tail between his legs and go with the women. He had stayed but had stated that he morally objected to taking another life, however he evidently didn't object to pulling a gun on a twelve year old boy. And that act had pretty much run Mr. Damron's string all the way out for me.

I holstered my gun and told Sam to throw me my O Katana as I had shown her and Jana to. The O Katana came flying through the air ... I caught it so that the sheath slid off in my hand. With three cuts as fast and, more importantly, as accurate as I could make, the bill of Damron's hat as well as both of his suspenders were cut straight through although there were a couple of drops of blood showing through the cut in his shirt. As his pants started their downward fall I said, "That pistol is fixing to be in the dirt, either you drop it or I cut off the arm that's holding it. You decide right now." I brought the thirty six inch blade into position where I could carry out my threat.

He looked around and for a minute I thought he was going to go for it. That's when his wife stepped forward and said, "Go ahead and kill him. He only wants the little girl so he can rape her." The woman broke down into sobs, "just like he has me and my daughters."

The stupid son of a bitch started bringing the gun across like he was going to shoot her. I moved just like I had been trained and a few drops of blood began to drip down his neck. To the crowd that had gathered it looked as though he had changed his mind until he started falling backwards and his head rolled a few feet from his body.

Red Hand asked for some of the words to be repeated as he hadn't caught all of them. When Sam explained what had been said he ploughed through the crowd pulling out his knife and cut the man's pants open. Red Hand cut the man's penis and testicles off and turned to the woman, "Where daughters... ?" Red Hand turned to me and explained that he needed the little girls to come to him.

The crowd parted and let the two girls through. Red Hand held the bloody body parts down and asked me to tell them to spit on them. The girls both spat on the bloody parts and then Red Hand held them in front of the mother and she spit on them. Red Hand was about to shove the bloody parts in the mouth of the severed head when another little girl came up with tears streaming down her face and touched Red Hand's arm. He understood at once and held the parts as the little girl spit on them.

Red Hand shoved the parts in the man's mouth closed it and was looking around for something when Broken Knife handed him a small sharp pointed stick. Red Hand used the stick to seal Damron's mouth closed by pinning his lips together. Then Red Hand turned to me and asked that I cut off the man's arms and legs.

I used the razor sharp O Katana to dismember the man. Red Hand picked up the left arm and held it out. Two Bears took it and got on his horse and took off to the east. Lone Elk took the man's right arm and left to the west. Milt and his men were quick to get the meaning of Red Hand's gesture and two of them took the man's legs with the left one going north and the other south. Red Hand took the man's severed head and told us he would be back in an hour and left as fast as his pony could carry him.

Mrs. Damron looked at me, "What does all that mean?"

"Your ex husband's spirit will never find rest. The Comanche believe that until he is whole he is cursed and by taking the body parts in every direction they are making sure he never finds peace. The Comanche have no problem raping a grown woman, but to rape a child is something that they cannot fathom. The reason it hit Red Hand so hard was that his wife and six year old daughter were raped and murdered by white men three years ago. He still grieves. What about the other little girl that came up?"

The girl's father came up and I looked him in the eye, "If you blame that girl and I find out about it I will come back and hunt you down. Do you understand that?" The man nodded his head but stayed standing in front of me, "Well, if you understand it go hug your daughter, if you shun her you make it her fault." The man turned and left, I hoped it worked out. Sam walked up to me and handed me a piece of paper, Jana held a canteen. I let her pour the water over the blade until all of the filth that had been Charles Damron was washed from the blade. I wiped it clean with the paper and sheathed the sword. I had to stand there for a minute to remember where I had been before the ruckus.

"Tommy." I said out loud, "Tommy, are you all right?"

"Yeah, Tom I'm all right. Tom, you cut that man's head off."

"Yeah, I did. Are you going to need any help getting hitched up?"

"I'll help him Tom, go on and get your other stuff together," Milt smiled as he and Tommy started hitching up the mules.

I turned to start back to our camp when Mrs. Damron lightly grabbed my arm. "Mr Dunlap, Can my girls and I go with you? Now that everyone knows, it would be very hard on them."

Her eyes told her story and they in turn told me what I needed to do, "Sure. Do you need any help getting your teams hitched?"

"No, they're all ready to go, do you want me bring them over with the other wagons?"

"Yes ma'am that would be just fine. Do you have any other livestock that we need to tend to?" She shook her head and left to go move her wagon.

Milt walked up to me, "She going with you?"

I nodded my head, "Yeah, I think it's for the best."

Milt nodded back, "Yes most likely, people can be cruel. And this is going to make me sound like one of them, but I wish that other family with the little girl would go with you as well."

"Oh, why's that." I asked although I already had a pretty good idea.

"Because the talk has already started. I swear it seems to me the more righteous and religious some folks are the crueller and more hateful they get. There'll be a murder before we get to Santa Fe, mark my words." Milt turned to see some of his men headed our way with one of their wagons, "I'm giving you five hundred pounds of oats and some other stuff since we are close enough to Las Vegas to spare it and it'll help your bunch out. I've also drawn a map showing the best water and route for wagons. If I can get the tack you want, can you meet me, say right here, in a couple of months?" he pointed to a place on the map.

"Yeah, shouldn't be any trouble. Do you want me to front you some money?"

Milt stopped to think a minute, "Well if you did, we could bring you a load of just general supplies when we came."

"Well that settles it then. Come on over and I'll give you some money and we'll see if any of the others have any ideas what else we might need."

"Tom, by the way, those two problems are in the back of that wagon. You still think the boy will talk to the army?" Milt asked.

"If he don't, just whisper in his ear that if I have to come back he'll beg to die days before I'm through with him and then I'll give him to the Comanches."

Milt laughed, "That should convince him, guess I better not tell him that while he's in the Commanders Office. He's liable to piss himself again."



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Chapter 4

The wagon pulled up beside the freight wagons. It was a busy hour getting everything moved around, tied and tarped down. While Broken Knife and I were taking care of that, Lucy and the others where putting together a shopping list for Milt to take with him. The last thing we took out of Milt's wagon was the Governor's son and the other prisoner.

Broken Knife and I walked them over to the place where we had buried the other members of their murderous little band. "What are you going to do with us?" The Governor's son asked.

"Well, the boy we questioned said that you had something that you liked to do with the children that survived your little attacks. I thought that since you seemed to take so much pleasure in it that I'd extend the same privilege to you." The words were hardly out of my mouth when the other man fell to his knees and started begging us not to do him that way.

"What? You mean to tell me that you don't want me to cut you up one joint at a time like this sick bastard did?" I was still mad from hearing what they had done to as many as a dozen children, "Why didn't you ever try to stop him? I know; you didn't because the boy said the only man that ever spoke out about it was shot in the back. By the time I'm through with you you'll wish he'd shot you in the back."

Red Hand and the others returned from their task of spreading Mr. Damron to the four winds and they helped us tie up the Governor's son so he was spread eagled on the ground. He was making a lot of noise and we hadn't made a cut on him. Red Hand had decided that his crimes against children were not so very different than rape, so Red Hand asked for my Bowie knife and then he removed the man's equipment and stuffed it in his screaming mouth. The Governor's son bled out in a few minutes, lucky for him that we didn't do like he had with the children and press a red hot iron to the bloody stumps to keep him from bleeding to death. In the end I just cut the throat of the other guy and we dumped them in the hole with the others and finished filling it up. Then we went down to the stream and washed the blood off.

Did I feel bad about killing those two? Not even a little bit. Milt had told me that in one wagon train six children had been found that had suffered through the Governor's son's brand of fun. Cutting up children one joint at a time, it sounded like something a serial killer from my time would do, not the picture of the old west I'd read about. It did however remind me of a verse that my grandmother always quoted from the Bible, Ecclesiastes 1:9, "there's nothing new under the Sun."

When we got back to the wagons the first thing I noticed was that our seven wagons had grown to nine. We rode up and got off our horses. I was surprised when Elizabeth Damron ran up to Red Hand and threw her arms around him. Poor Red Hand didn't know what to do and was looking at each of us hoping for some help. Broken Knife was the one that ended up coming through for him. He simply told him to wrap his arms around her and hold her and she would get better. Red Hand looked pretty sceptical but followed his instructions and was soon smiling from the result. Elizabeth's girls, fourteen year old Susan and twelve year old Becky, had been waiting for that smile. When they saw it they too joined Red Hand and Elizabeth's embrace and once more I saw the stereotypical picture of the Native American shatter. The cold, hard warrior who had fought his own demons for so long, standing with his arms around three broken women, had tears streaming down his face. But after looking around, I saw he wasn't the only one.

Two men walked up to me and offered their hands; Jase Trammel and Simpson Jones were like peas in a pod. They had met in St. Jo and become fast friends. Simpson had known that there would be trouble with some of the people in Milt's train. He had already heard some things said about his friend's daughter earlier that morning that had convinced him that it would be better if Jase and his family left the train. Leaving the train for his friend was no sacrifice for him; it was just something he had to do. He had been unsure about the Comanches but after watching the one they called Red Hand take in the Damron family those doubts evaporated like dew in the late morning sun. "We'd like to come with you Mr. Dunlap," Simpson said

"That would be just fine. I guess you know that right now my only plans are to go back and find Red Hawk. After that ... well after that we'll just have to see what happens. For right now you two are going to have to teach me about handling a team. Believe it or not, I've just not been around them much."

Simpson just smiled, "Well, we'll learn you soon enough, but for today why don't you just let my boys drive for you?"

Jase chuckled, "I'd have offered my boy David to drive for you but he's had his eyes on that oldest Damron girl since we left St. Jo and I expect he's over there right now trying to talk Elizabeth into letting him drive for her."

"Well that sounds good to me, let's see if we can get this show on the road." The three of us walked over to where the others were gathered. I called Simpson's sons to me, "Men, your dad kind of volunteered you to drive some of these wagons. I won't hold you to that but if you can't will you at least teach me and any of the others that want to learn?"

Josh, the oldest of the boys, looked at the others as each and every one of them nodded their heads, "Mr Dunlap we'd be glad to drive for you and if anyone wants to learn that would be fine too."

"All right folks it's getting late but I'd sure like to get away from here. What say we go ahead and leave and not stop for noon but then stop around five? There's a spring and Broken Knife is pretty sure we can make it by then."

Everybody agreed and the boys sorted out who would drive what. Sam stayed on the wagon with Josh, so she could learn what to do. Broken Knife had built a travois for Beth to ride on and we got her out of the wagon. With me on one side and Broken Knife on the other I allowed her to walk over to the travois. Lucy had taken one of her old hoop petticoats and using some of the whale bone that was in it for support she had made a shade to keep the sun off Beth as we travelled. Lone Elk led the horse with the travois and we were off

Tim Jones, Simpson's next oldest, would bring up the rear, Broken Knife thought it prudent to try and erase as much of our trail as was possible. He had cut some brush to drag behind the last wagon to try and confuse our trail. When we had made this trip we had brought extra horses. We did this because we were travelling pretty fast. With the wagons we weren't going to be making even a third of the speed. Broken Knife decided to send White Wolf ahead to Red Hawk. White Wolf left out at a slow lope leading a spare horse, I expected that he would be there and back in less than a week.

We had been on the trail just over three hours when I noticed that Red Hand wasn't on his horse. I had been walking beside the travois that Beth was on checking to see how she was faring. When I got back on Jack I didn't see Red Hand out to the left side of our wagon train. I was about to go ask Broken Knife where he was when I found him. He was sitting between Elizabeth and Becky Damron, driving their wagon and grinning like a fool. I don't know why I was surprised, but I was and pleasantly so.

Overall things went pretty smoothly on that short day. We pulled up to the spring a little after six. The men took care of the livestock and the women started on supper. Fran and Jana got Beth up and walked her around a little. Frankly I was amazed at how fast she was healing, happy but amazed.

I had noticed earlier that Jase and Simpson were both carrying single shot pistols. After thinking about it I decided to give pistols not just to them, but to their sons. After, of course, getting my J's lined up.

Oh, 'my J's', that was little miss Jana's doings. She thought it quite funny that all of my animal's names started with a J hence getting my J's lined out. Jana, I had found, was full of life. I know that she had been repressed some by her circumstances, but she was in full bloom now and growing and it was a delight to see.

I decided that I would give Jase's son, David, as well as Simpson's two youngest boys Morgan and Garret, the .36 caliber pistols. I called the men together and handed out the pistols. Simpson it turns out was, among other things, an expert leather craftsman. We had, in the wagon his oldest boy Josh had been driving, three full sides of leather. He promised everyone a belt and holster and after grabbing one of the full sides he disappeared, along with Tim and Morgan, his two middle sons who shared his love of leather work.

Supper was delicious; Two Bears had slipped off from the wagons and found a small herd of buffalo. He came back and borrowed Jasper and Jake and showed up with both animals loaded down with fresh meat. Supper then was fresh buffalo, fried taters, and Johnny cake. Elizabeth still had plenty of dried apples and she used some of the precious things to make two Dutch ovens full of apple cobbler. The cobbler was out of this world and a certain Comanche warrior that had a thing for a certain cobbler making lady made a pig out of himself.

It was obvious to any and all that Red Hand was quite taken with the recently widowed Mrs. Damron, and she with him. I'm sure some folks would not look too kindly on her brief, perhaps even non-existent, period of mourning. And in that day and time I am equally sure that they wouldn't approve of her choice of boyfriends. But it looked like mixed race unions were going to be pretty common on this small wagon train.

Broken Knife and Lucy sat together at supper tonight as did Red Hand and Elizabeth. It was interesting to me to watch the couples. In my time with the Comanche I had watched the last stages of a young couple's courtship. So I actually had a better idea of the Comanche rituals than I did on circa 1847 courting rituals for whites. But at supper tonight it was like being back home and surrounded by giggling teenagers even though the four people that were doing all the giggling hadn't been teens for years.

After supper the courting was put on hold as Broken Knife, Red Hand, Two Bears and myself took off in opposite directions to make sure that we didn't have uninvited guests show up. All of us but Broken Knife got back right at dark. It was almost two hours after the sunset when he made it back and I don't mind telling you Lucy wasn't the only one that was worried

Broken Knife had gone in the direction that we would head in the morning and just before he turned around he had seen campfires. He felt pretty sure that because of the number of fires that it was probably whites, and probably white men that worked for the governor, so it would be a long restless night for us ... Since we had to put out our fires to avoid being spotted, it would be a cold and dark one as well.

We had made a pallet for Beth and sat her up against the wheel of the wagon during supper and it was good to see her smiling. Now that it was dark and we were getting ready to go to bed she begged us to stay with her. It took some work but we managed to add on to the bed in her wagon so that tonight, for the first time, I was in bed with four women. Four women that felt very strongly for me. Beth grimaced as she pulled me towards her. "I want a kiss," she demanded, the light from the full moon casting an eerie glow on her face.

I kissed her and started to feel my heart melting, but why? Was I so fickle that I fell in love with every girl I kissed? I ended the kiss and flopped back on the bed, "What's wrong with me?" I said out loud.

"What do you mean what's wrong with you? Nothing is wrong with you," Fran gently caressed my face as she spoke.

"You must think I am pretty damn fickle. Not being able to make up my mind who I am in love with."

"Who you love?" Sam asked.

"That's just it. I love all of you but..."

"But what?" Beth started, "Do you love us?"

I looked at each of the beauties in front of me and started nodding my head, "Yes I do, I love each of you. But can we do this?" I looked from one to the other, "Jealousy is a very powerful emotion. If it ever begins it will tear us apart."

The girls looked from one to the other before Beth began, "We know that, we also know that if we get around other Whites that there will be problems. We accept that. What we can't accept is living without you, just having a part of you is better than losing you."

I looked at each one waiting for confirmation, Fran started by saying, "I love you and I want you to be my husband."

Jana took my hand in hers, "I love you and always will, I want you to be my husband."

Sam reached across for Fran's hand. She took it and placed it on top of Jana's. Then she placed her hand on top of theirs, "I love you Tom, and I want you for my husband."

Beth smiled and placed her hand on top of Sam's, "I love you, you saved my life and stole my heart, and I too want you to be my husband."

I looked down at the hands piled on top of mine. I felt their weight in more ways than one. If I became their husband they would become my responsibility. Was I ready for that? That was one question that didn't take long to answer because I already felt responsible for them. I had no doubt that I loved them. I found that I loved them so much that it seemed strange to even question it.

Four beautiful women, each different but with one thing in common: me. God help me but they all loved me and I them. "I love you Fran and I want you for my wife."

I kissed her and turned to Jana, "I love you Jana, and I want you for my wife." I kissed Jana.

Turning to Sam, "I love you Tiny Bird, my lovely Sam, you have been my friend, my teacher, my helper and now I want you to be my wife." Sam leaned forward and we kissed.

"Beth, I love you and as sure as the sun will come up tomorrow I know that I can't live without you in my life. I want you to be my wife." I bent down and kissed Beth.

When I broke the kiss Fran looked at me with tears forming in her eyes, "Sam and I can't give you our virginity, but..." I stopped her and pulled her into my arms, "Virginity is not something that can be taken, it must be given. Do you give yourself to me?" She couldn't speak, I felt her nodding her head in my shoulder, "Then I will be the first man to receive that from you." I laid her down beside Beth and with Sam and Jana's help we undressed her.

I was a virgin as well, oh I had read everything that I could get my hands on but I had never had vaginal sex with a woman. Oral sex, now that was something very different. Sally Grant had seen to that part of my education. Living out in the country the way we did meant that I didn't have a lot of neighbour kids to play with. Sally Grant had been the exception. She was three years older than me but during the summer we spent every waking hour riding our horses and skinny dipping in the dirt tank at the back of our place. Because of the remoteness of the ranch, she and I had no one else to pal around with. It was no wonder that we became the best of friends. I had taught Sally what felt good to guys and she in turn had taught me what felt good to girls. After that we practiced. Oh all right, we practiced a lot. Even after she had graduated and gone to college, when she came home for the summer we practiced every chance we got. We practiced, on and off, right up until I left on my trans-Texas trip back into a history that wasn't quite mine.

As a result of diligent practice, it was a well versed tongue that began to explore Fran's body, and soon moans were filling the air. When her orgasm hit it came out of nowhere. She didn't build up to it slowly the way Sally had, it was bang and she was there. If not for Sam's quick thinking we would have awakened the entire camp. Sam saw that Fran was about to scream out her pleasure and covered Fran's mouth with hers. When I heard the muffled sounds I looked up to see Sam kissing Fran. I am here to tell you it shot a bolt right through me, I kissed my way back up to the now panting Fran, but I still had my clothes on. Sam and Jana promptly took care of that problem and, for the first time in my life, I entered a female body. I recommend it without reservation to any who have not tried it and from the look on Fran's face, she would too.

I only had to look at the body lying next to Fran to realize that my actions could have consequences. "Where are you in your cycle?" "Don't worry about that Tom. I want to have your babies." Fran's response only served to urge me on. And I made love to Fran until I came, I wanted to roll off of her but she held me tight. As she did, first Beth and then Sam and Jana kissed us both, which only served to stimulate me.

I started getting hard while I was still inside Fran and she laughed, "Sam, he's ready." We rolled over so that I was on my back and Fran got up, my sperm running down her thighs. She helped Jana scoot me back over next to Beth. I was kissing on Beth, but Sam was waiting for me to move too, so she could lay down where Fran had been. I just motioned to her for her to sit down and go for a ride. Being on top was a new experience for Sam but I had something I wanted to try, "Jana come here." I turned Jana around so that she was facing Sam and guided her virgin pussy to my waiting lips.

"OH! My God! Oh My God! OhMyGod! OHMYGOD!" Jana exclaimed as my lips met her lower lips. After that Jana was pretty much reduced to moaning and groaning.

Jana moved off of me and I felt a hand on my face. I turned my face to see Beth smiling at me, "I wish you would do that to me, but I'm afraid I'd pull a stitch."

"I'm afraid you would too," I leaned across and kissed her. In spite of Jana's juices all over my face, Beth eagerly returned my kisses. Sam had found that being on top was lots of fun but it was also very tiring especially after having two climaxes.

Sam lay across my body and kissed me, "Tom, hold me please." I pulled Sam into my arms and held her. Jana moved from beside me and I rolled over on top of Sam. My diversion with Jana had helped me hold out for Sam. Now with me on top I did my best to send Sam over the edge.

It only took a few minutes for Sam's already heightened senses to push her over a third time and this time I went with her. I kissed Sam and then rolled off of her towards Beth.

"Now my sweet Beth, what do you need?" I was lying on my belly propped up on my elbows staring into her beautiful eyes.

She smiled, but behind it I saw she was hurting. I got up and pulled out the bottle of Laudanum mixed with water and gave her a spoonful, "Listen, I know that you hurt and I don't want you to hurt but I'll tell you a family secret. About three greats back one of my grandfathers got in trouble with this stuff. I don't want you to get in trouble with it. All right?"

Beth reached out and touched my face, "All right, you're the doctor. Could I get some kisses?"

I lay down beside Beth and started kissing her. Jana slipped in at my back and Sam slipped in behind her. Fran had cleaned herself up and slipped in behind Beth. I went to sleep holding Beth.

The next morning we were up and moving at daylight. Since we were worried about the folks that had the campfires the night before, we had planned to disappear on them. Broken Knife had found a depression that was big enough to hide the wagons. So we hustled our butts to get all the wagons there and out of sight. Once we had the wagons out of sight, Broken Knife, Red Hand, Two Bears, Lone Elk and I rode to meet them.

It turned out to be a wagon train. It was plain that they recognised that most of us were Comanche. It was also plain that they were scared shitless so we approached them very slowly and very carefully stopping about two hundred yards out.

The wagon master and scout rode out to meet us. I guess they didn't really notice me being white so I lay back to see what they did. Normally I have a pretty dark complexion and being in the sun every day for the last month had just darkened me up that much more. So I didn't look all that different from the Comanche unless you noticed my blue eyes, but I almost burst out laughing when the scout started speaking Comanche. I mean he couldn't speak it as well as I could and so he was quite comical with some of the things he said.

Broken Knife told him that White Bear would speak for us. So I rode up from behind Broken Knife, "You know, no better than you can speak Comanche you'd be better off with sign language."

"You're white! Are you a captive?" the wagon master seemed to be even more irritated than he had been.

"No! These are my friends, this is Broken Knife."

Broken Knife smiled broadly, "Howdy partner."

I nearly fell off my horse. I introduced the rest of the men to the wagon master who still hadn't told us his name so I thought I would point out his rudeness, "Well you know who we are. Now what are we supposed to call you two?"

"I'm sorry, I'm Jacob Thomas, and this is Seth McGee our scout. Have you seen any..." his face turned real red and he started laughing, "I was about to ask if you'd seen any Indians."

"Don't laugh! We've fought two bunches of Crows, thirty five all total, and a bunch of white men that have been attacking wagon trains and trying to make it look like Indians had done the work."

The laughter evaporated from Jacob's face, "Was that the bunch that butchered up the children?"

"Yes it was. We caught the sick son of a bitch that was doing that, he didn't seem to like it when we did the same thing to him. In case you're curious, he just happened to be the son of the governor of Santa Fe."

"You're shitting me!" Seth exclaimed, "We got some friends of the governors on this train."

"Oh really! Do they have some freight wagons?" I was getting a really bad feeling about this. So I explained my fears to Broken Knife in Comanche.

"Yeah they do, is that a problem?" Jacob asked.

"I want to look at those wagons and I don't mind telling you why." I explained to Jacob what we had found out and he was like Milt, it offended his basic sense of right and wrong.

"I think we better go check those wagons out," Jacob said.

"Yeah, well be sure and tell your people not to shoot my friends and understand that we'll probably have to shoot the owners of the wagons."

Seth leaned away from his horse a bit and spit, "Let me shoot the bastard. I had a sister on one of those wagon trains that got hit."

We rode straight to the wagons in question. I got off my horse and pulled my sword out of the scabbard on the saddle. I cut a small sapling with it and started measuring the nearest wagon.

The driver started to protest, "Hey you, get away from there."

I pointed behind me. When he looked in that direction he saw that he and the other three drivers all had revolvers pointed at them. It wasn't long after I had discovered that this wagon had a false bottom in it as well, then I heard the ranting of a man that sure sounded a lot like Mr. Abernathy. I was opening up the back of the wagon when he started screaming at me.

"Get out of there, you have no business messing with that," he bellowed.

I looked to see where his feet were as I pulled the first crate out of the hidden space and let it slide to the ground. I turned slightly towards the man. He hadn't noticed my sword yet, "You sound a lot like the late Mr. Abernathy."

"Mr. Abernathy is a business associate of mine. You said late, is he dead?" the man asked

"Yes he sure is. He pulled a gun on me one too many times so I put a .44 caliber bullet right between his eyes. And if that wasn't enough, Broken Knife there pulled the trigger on a .50 caliber Hawken at about the same time. Just who are you and how is it that you fit in with the Governor's treasonous plans."

"My name is William Van der Wahl. As for the other, that will be none of your concern since you are about to die."

I spun and caught him pulling a small pistol out of the inside of his coat. I don't think he even realised that I had the sword until he was looking at his hand, still holding the pistol, lying on the ground at his feet. "You're just like Abernathy. You forget that little pocket pistol of yours doesn't make you immortal. Do you have one in your boot you want to go after with your left hand?" I walked over to the man. He was starting to go into shock. I tied a knot in my bandana and Seth, who had seen the whole thing play out, handed me a short stick. I twisted the stick until it stopped the flow of blood. "There you go Billy boy. I don't think you're going to be living long enough for that to be much of a handicap."

Jacob walked up, "You were right; all four wagons have false bottoms. What do you want to do now?"

"Well I can't let you take the guns and ammunition to Santa Fe because you can't promise me that the Governor's men won't end up with them. I guess we can transfer them to our wagons."

Jacob scratched his chin, "That will take most of the afternoon. We may as well make camp right here."

"I'll get one of my friends to go get our folks and we'll just camp with you. Besides, we still need to find out if these drivers are part of the gang." I turned to Two Bears and told him in Comanche to go get our folks and bring them here.

Two Bears holstered his pistol, spun his horse around, and hauled ass. It was actually less than a mile to where the wagons sat. I was watching Seth a few minutes later when the first wagon seemed to raise up right out of the ground. "Damn! They were that close all the time?" he asked.

"Yep, sure were." Broken Knife and Red Hand had got the drivers all down and tied their hands behind their back.

I was cleaning the blood off of my sword when a woman that was the spitting image of Lucy Abernathy walked up, "Well little man, looks like you won't be drawing your little pistol on anyone else now." The venom dripped off every word the woman said. Broken Knife was staring at her, "What's your problem?" she asked.

"Lucy?" Broken Knife asked. Although he plainly didn't believe it was his Lucy, the face just had him stumped.

"My name is Marie, Anne Marie Wilson - Van der Wahl." She turned to me. "Why is he staring at me?"

I was about to answer when Lucy stopped her wagon and got down. She walked over to Broken Knife and said in passable Comanche that they were sisters. Lucy kissed Broken Knife on the lips and then turned to her sister, "This is Broken Knife, I plan on being his wife if he'll have me."

Marie stared at her sister as though she had two heads, "You're kidding right?"

"Not at all, I may have to fight his current wife for the privilege, but unless she kills me I'm his." Lucy reached and took his hand and held it.

Jase walked up, "We just going to circle in with these folks Tom?"

"Yeah Jase, can you have your boys pull the freight wagons up close to these so we can unload these guns." I walked over to Jack and slid my sword into its sheath.

"Damn Tom, why did you cut his hand off?" Jase asked.

I pointed to the ground where the hand and pistol still lay, "He drew on me and I didn't want to kill him yet." Jase walked off shaking his head to get his boys just as Jana, Sam and Fran rode up leading the travois with Beth. I walked over to Jana and helped her down from her horse and kissed her then repeated my actions with Fran and Sam and then got down on one knee and kissed Beth. It was funny when they finally noticed Marie. For almost a minute they looked back and forth like a tennis match.

"You have four women?" Marie asked.

But before I could answer Fran said, "No, the four of us are sharing him."

Marie turned to her sister, "You need to tell me what's been going on."

I picked Van der Wahl up by the scruff of the neck, "Come on Billy boy, let's go see what you can tell me." I motioned for Seth and Jacob to come with me. Broken Knife whispered something to Lucy and she smiled and gave him another kiss and then he followed us over away from the camp a ways.

"All right Mr. Van der Wahl, here's the deal. You can tell us everything right now or I let Broken Knife and his friends encourage you to speak, and I promise that you won't live through it."

Van der Wahl looked at his stump and it looked like he was going to pass out for a second. He started talking though and Jacob and Seth were disgusted by what they heard. He told us that the drivers were in on the plan and would probably try to jump us the first chance they got. We took him back to the wagon train and called the people together. We explained what was going on and about the murders that the gang had committed. The people decide that there was no reason to let them live after they had killed so many. We marched them well away from camp. There we stripped and shot them, leaving them for the animals just as they had left their victims.

William Van der Wahl had three Negro slaves as well as two indentured servants. Marie had already talked to Lucy and she had signed their papers freeing them. Jana and Fran knew the two girls who had been indentured to the Van der Wahl's and they took them in and made them at home.

The three Negro males were afraid to go to Santa Fe for fear of being enslaved again. They weren't all that big on going back to Texas either but did finally agree to go back with us and drive three of the Wagons. That meant that I was probably going to have to drive the fourth wagon but I didn't guess that would kill me; bruise my ego and ass maybe, but it wouldn't kill me.

Our group was gathered together enjoying some of the fresh buffalo that Two Bears and Red Hand had killed when Tommy Davidson, who had been missing through most of supper, showed up. With Tommy were three boys and a girl, one of the boys was his age and the other two were sixteen or seventeen, the girl looked to be seventeen, maybe eighteen. Like Tommy, these four were orphans and like Tommy they all had siblings. Between the four of them there were thirteen kids from six to sixteen.

The two oldest, Maggie Smith and Frank Polk, had been elected to speak for all of them. "Mr. Dunlap," Maggie started, "Tommy told us that you stood up for him and well, we'd like to go with you. We'll all pull our weight sir, we promise."

"We've been taking care of ourselves since we each lost our parents. We just don't want to get split up." Frank added.

"I see, and just what does Jacob think of this?" I was wondering if there would be trouble like when Tommy and Amy joined us.

"We haven't talked to him. Frankly Mr. Dunlap, until you came along we didn't think we had much choice. But we'll sure go talk to him if that's what you want," Maggie replied.

Frank turned to one of the boys behind him and said something. The boy took off at a dead run. I smiled at them, "Have you kids had supper yet?"

"Yes Sir, we pitch in together and fix supper for all of us," Maggie replied, you could hear the pride in her voice.

"Just how many are there of you?" I asked wondering what I might be getting in to.

Maggie never hesitated a second, "There are thirteen of us Sir, nine girls and four boys."

The boy returned with Jacob in tow, I looked at Jacob and pointed to the kids, "Jacob these young men and women want to leave with us tomorrow. Do you have a problem with that?"

Jacob laughed, "No, I don't. There's a few old biddies that will be upset but its fine by me." Flo Trammel handed Jacob a cup of coffee and he sat down to talk with Jase.

Frank spoke up, "Mr. Dunlap, we're all at the end of the train. If we let them take off first tomorrow, them old biddies will never miss us till they stop tomorrow night."

"That sounds good," I stood up and walked over to the boys, "I do have one condition however."

Frank and Maggie both looked a little worried, "What is it Sir," Frank asked.

"You have to furnish a driver for one of these freight wagons so I can be on my horse instead bruising my bottom on that wagon seat."

Frank smiled, "You can hang your hat on it, Sir."

"If that's the case please call me Tom. Now where's the rest of your group?" I asked as I stood up to shake hands with Frank and Maggie.

Frank mimicked a whippoorwill and the camp filled with children, happy children, all of them laughing and talking ninety miles an hour.

They all introduced themselves but I didn't catch hardly any of their names. I figured there'd be time enough for that over the next few days. Broken Knife walked up leading Jack. We had decided that we'd take a little ride and make sure no one was about.

Jacob stood and walked over to us, "Where are y'all headed?"

"We're going to go make sure we don't get any visitors. This is how we knew you were coming," I grinned. The girls all came over, Fran and Sam helping Beth and gave me a kiss. Jacob shook his head and as I was riding away I heard him ask Beth which one of them was my girl. He sure did have a funny look on his face when they had answered him.

We rode an hour out and then started back, Broken Knife went east and I went south. Two Bears and Red Hand took north and west. We rode in two hours later having not seen or heard anything.

I was a little surprised to find Jacob still chatting with Jase. He walked up to me while I was unsaddling Jack, "Jase told me what you and your Comanches did. I want to thank you for what you did and for what you're doing."

"We just did what we had to Jacob, no more, no less. The Comanche aren't all bad; Red Hawk seems to me to be a good leader. I just don't want to see his people killed or run off their land. If I can make them stronger there can be peace, a fair peace, but this time the Comanches won't have to be the ones to pay the full price."

"I wish you the best of luck young man," Jacob said as he shook my hand and then headed off for his tent.

As I walked past the Damron wagon I noticed a smiling Red Hand was stretched out underneath it. I had to laugh to myself; a troop of Calvary couldn't get to that wagon. There was giggling coming from Lucy's wagon so I called out quietly, "Broken Knife, you all right?"

"Yes Tom," followed by a fit of giggles lilting through the canvas wall of the wagon. Love sure had a powerful effect on the savage Comanche. What was I thinking? I was about to go crawl into a wagon with four beautiful women. Love was having a powerful effect on a whole bunch of us. Well that was enough philosophy today.

I opened the flap of the wagon and looked in at the beauties, lit only by the small lantern setting by the bed. I took off my buckskins and slid into the middle of the girls. After a round of hot kisses Jana announced that it was time for her to become a woman. "Are you sure sweetie?" I was really hoping that she would wait for Beth.

"Why do you want me to wait?" she asked.

"Well, mostly I was thinking about Beth," I turned to look at Beth. "I know it's hard for you to be left out."

Beth was sitting up in the bed, she reached over and caressed my face, "Oh, Tom thank you for thinking about me but it's going to be what, two or three weeks before I can make love with you? Make love to her, please."

Jana had a smile that you could read a newspaper by. Jana moved me out of the way and kissed Beth and then gently pulled her into a hug, "Oh Beth! Thank you so much."

When Jana kissed Beth my cock lurched, an event that didn't go unnoticed. It hadn't taken very long to figure out that Fran was a girl with a passion. She had flirted with me at every chance today, and now she was kissing on Sam and running her hands all over both her and Sam's breasts. My dick was so hard, a wildcat couldn't have scratched it.

Jana got on top of me and used her pussy to pin my cock against my body. She then started masturbating the both of us by sliding her pussy back and forth. I was already over stimulated and in just a few minutes I came.

Beth reached over to the puddle of semen on my belly and scooped some up with her finger. She smelled it, and then touched it to her tongue. Beth must have found the taste to her liking since the next thing she did was to lean over and lick up all of my spend.

"What does it taste like?" Jana asked her. Beth sat back up and pulled Jana into a kiss. As soon as I saw Beth's tongue invade Jana's mouth I knew that they were sharing my taste, my cock sprung right up again hard as steel. Jana whispered something in Beth's ear and then scooted back on my legs.

Beth leaned over and took my cock into her warm wet mouth and coated it with saliva. When she sat back up Jana followed and pushed her pussy into Beth's face. A groan escaped my lips as I watched the two of them.

As quickly as they had started, they stopped and Jana moved her saliva glistening pussy down to my saliva coated cock. Beth reached and took hold of my cock and held it. Jana lined up the head with her virgin hole and started sliding down. Her barrier surrendered with only a slight whimper from Jana; little did I know that it had been weakened by years of self stimulation.

When Jana bottomed out she just sat there for a few minutes. Then she started flexing her pelvis back and forth at the same time as she squeezed with her inner muscles. The feeling was out of this world, all I could do was moan, and even though I had just cum it felt like I was about to explode again. I wanted Jana to cum but I didn't know if I was going to be able to hold out.

Jana's nipples were hard as a rock and sticking out proudly. I reached up with both hands and took them between my thumb and fore fingers. This drew out a long low moan from Jana and I felt a spasm ripple through her pussy. Encouraged that I might push her over, I increased the pressure on her nipples. The moaning got louder so I squeezed even harder. I felt the flutter in her pussy go crazy and then her pussy just started milking me as my balls erupted, filling her with my fluid. Jana collapsed on top of me and started sobbing.

"Jana, baby, are you okay? Sweetie, talk to me. What's the matter?" I was scared to death that I had hurt her and it showed on my face in the pale yellow light of the lantern.

Fran leaned down near my face and kissed me, "It's all right Tom. She's crying because you made her feel very special. You make all of us feel special."

Sam had moved in beside Fran and kissed me. When she finished, Beth moved in and gave me a smoking kiss. Fran let Sam lay down beside me and went to blow out the lantern. When she got back into bed she pulled the blanket up over us and that is how we spent the night. Jana sleeping on top of me, my cock still buried in her pussy.

Sometime around dawn I became aware that something warm and wet was surrounding my morning hard on. Jana was gently humping away and I wasn't even sure if she was awake. I kissed the top of her head, "I love you Jana."

Jana stopped her gentle humping and squeezed my cock with her vaginal muscles. Turning her head to face me, her hand came up to wipe away a string of drool from her mouth and she smiled, "Good morning my love," she said in a sleepy yawn tinted voice.

I kissed her lips as Jana resumed the age old motion. Only now, both her body and passion were awake and demanding satisfaction. It was a demand I was ready, willing, and able to satisfy. Okay, maybe willing doesn't accurately describe my enthusiasm as Jana sped up her movements and I reached for her breasts. "I wish they were bigger," she told me between breaths.

"Don't you dare, I love your breasts just as they are. Besides, haven't you ever heard that anything more than a mouthful is wasted." That set Jana to giggling and the giggling felt very strange to my dick.

Jana was grinding her clit between our bodies and that action was fast getting her to the point of no return. Our activities had awakened our bed mates so Beth rolled on her side facing me and started kissing the side of my face. Fran who was lying on the other side of me started kissing her side of my face. Sam, not wanting to be left out but not finding open places on me, moved behind Jana and started helping me tease her nipples. Sam's help was all that was needed to push Jana over the edge, and her orgasm helped me to cum. We laid there in a pile until our bodily functions forced the issue. We took care of our business and I took our thunder mug away from the wagon and dumped it.

Beth was getting stronger every day. Jana walked beside her as Fran, Sam, and I saddled horses, mules, and hooked up the wagon. It was a quarter past eight when we started off for another day of travelling. And that's how it went every day for five days.

Late in the afternoon on the sixth day it looked like things were about to get real serious. We were going across an area that was just a sea of grass, not a tree or a bush of any kind in sight. It was also flat, so when ten Indians appeared on the horizon they stood out. Broken Knife rode up to me, "Pawnee," he said pointing at the men riding towards us.

I yelled out for the lead wagon to start turning and we started circling the wagons. We had just started unhitching the teams when Broken Knife called out to me. When I turned to look the Pawnee had stopped and another group of riders came over a low rise.

Jase turned his head and spat, "Damn, here comes more of them."

"Not exactly Jase, that second bunch is Comanche. That's Red Hawk. Get those Henry rifles passed out," I called everyone over to me and told them firmly, "that second bunch of riders are our friends. Do not shoot them." I saw Sam hand Broken Knife a mirror and watched as he signaled Red Hawk.

As soon as Red Hawk knew who we were, he charged the Pawnee. It didn't take a military genius to know that getting caught between cavalry and a fortified position, even one as weak as ours, was not going to be healthy. The Pawnees decided to head north in a hurry. I don't know about everyone else but I breathed a sigh of relief. Figuring that this was as good as any for a place to camp I turned to Jase, "Let me check with Red Hawk but we may as well camp here tonight."

Red Hawk was glad to see us. He said there was another wagon train about ten miles ahead of us and I wondered if it was the last of the governor's buddies. Tomorrow would answer that. The women fell in and started supper, White Wolf, the man we had sent for help, rode over and gave a freshly killed antelope to the ladies.

I sat down with Red Hawk and explained to him what was going on. We had talked before about some of the things that would happen to the Comanche and he had already acted on them. Red Hawk had met with three other Comanche leaders and discussed the things we had talked about. They had also given him some news from Santa Fe. It seems the governor had used the attacks on the wagon trains to start enslaving the local Native Americans in the area and to escape it, many had fled. This displacement was the main reason behind the increased attacks of the Crow and, now to the West, the Apache. I couldn't help but think that if I could unite the Plains tribes I could undo the genocide that was to come, but at what cost? That was the question I couldn't answer.

The ladies of the train outdid themselves; supper was delicious, nutritious, and good for you. Elizabeth Damron made four Dutch ovens full of cobbler, and Red Hand's getting not only the first, but a double helping at that, did not go unnoticed. Everyone was digging on Red Hand about how Elizabeth treated him. He finally leaned over and whispered something to her and she whispered something back to him. We were in the process of ribbing him about that when he said, "Laugh, I still got more cobbler."

The whole camp busted out laughing; I looked over to see Red Hawk nodding his head. "What is it?" I asked him.

Red Hawk looked across to where Elizabeth had her arm holding Red Hand's, "It's good to see Red Hand happy again."

"Have you been watching Broken Knife?" I asked him.

"Yes, that is good. His wife decided to leave shortly after you left. This Lucy is a good woman?" Red Hawk asked.

"I didn't think so when I first met her, but I think it is because of who she was with. Kind of like Broken Knife is different when his old wife was near." I wasn't sure Red Hawk would understand the one bad apple example.

Red Hawk turned to me and said, "una manzana mala." {one bad apple}

I just nodded my head, he understood perfectly.

We sat there in silence for almost an hour. I don't know what Red Hawk was thinking about, but I was thinking about the wagons headed for us and what might happen tomorrow. Oh well, tomorrow will be here in the morning and not before.



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Chapter 5

The next morning we were up and on the trail and headed for the wagon train that was headed for us. They were very late getting started apparently since we had been on the trail three hours when we came up on them and they hadn't even broken camp yet. They did get very excited when we rode up.

We got close enough for them to see that we had women and children which did seem to put them a little more at ease. Three men came riding out to meet us and just based on the way one of them was dressed, I was pretty damn sure we had found another of the governor's men. "I'm Tom Dunlap. This is Red Hawk, and Broken Knife."

"I'm Sam Draper, the wagon master, this is John Pope, he's our scout, and the other feller there, is Jonathan Van der Wahl," Draper's voice was thick with contempt.

I caught the other two men looking my Comanche friends over and I motioned the wagon master, "I need to talk to you alone."

"If you have anything to say half breed, you can say it to all of us," the fancy dressed man replied.

"If I shoot that son of a bitch are your people going to start shooting?" I asked.

"Not if I put my hand up like this," Draper said.

I pulled my pistol on Van der Wahl and said, "If you are like your brother and his buddy Abernathy, you'll have a pistol in your coat and another in your boot. Broken Knife is going to take both of them right now. If you make any kind of move that I don't like I'm putting a bullet in your head before you even get close. Mr. Van der Wahl, I'm arresting you in the name of the public good." Before Broken Knife ever got a chance to disarm him everything went to hell.

Van der Wahl's face went bright red, "You can't arrest me, the Governor is a close personal friend of mine."

John Pope spoke up, "What's this all about?"

"It's about attacking wagon trains and cutting up children and blaming it on the Indians." Mr. Van der Wahl knew that he was in deep shit right about then and reached for his pistol. His hand never touched it and I didn't have to shoot him, Pope did. "We need to go and get the men that work for him. They could be in on this too."

"We are going to need help because there are fifteen of them," Draper said.

"Fifteen, damn! How many wagons?" I asked, not sure if I wanted an answer.

Draper rubbed his chin as he thought, "Well there's twenty wagons, but he's got slaves driving half of them. There're only ten drivers, the other ten quit the first month on the trail when he didn't pay them, the other five are like guards."

Broken Knife turned to me, "Tom, if we ride in there with the Henrys and revolvers those men are not going to want to fight."

"We better not tell them what we did to the others like them then." I turned to Sam Draper, "Go up there and tell all of the good people that we are letting them go but have them walk over towards our wagons so they'll be safe. Have them stop right about here. Tell Van der Wahl's men that they have a choice. A horse, food, water and an escort to the eastern edge of Comanche territory or we kill each and every one. You can also tell them that the governor's son was the one that was cutting the children up and that's what awaits any of them if they were involved." I nodded to Red Hawk and he whistled.

Forty riders, all in buckskins came out from behind our wagons and formed a line of horses, nose to tail. When they cleared the wagons they went to side by side in an obviously practiced move, the brass on the Henry rifles gleaming in the sunlight. They rode up and stopped, that's when Draper and Pope saw that not all the riders were Comanches, they weren't even all male.

Sam Draper rode back to the wagon train and people started walking toward where we were sitting our horses. About thirty minutes later Draper and another man came riding out. Draper stopped in front of us, "This is Red Hawk, Broken Knife, and Tom Dunlap. This is Jeff Golden. He's been elected to speak for the drivers."

I watched as Jeff looked over our riders, I didn't like the look on his face, "Mr. Golden I don't like the idea you're getting. Those forty riders may not all be Comanches, they may all not be men, but you better know this, they are all carrying repeating rifles and four revolvers apiece. Every one of them is an expert marksmen and they are quite capable of sitting back and raining bullets on you till there's nothing left. And if we decide not to do it that way, think about this; we can follow you for the next five days and I can promise you five sleepless nights and every one of you dead by the fifth day." The smirk he had when I started talking had disappeared. "You have to the count of ten to decide."

Golden looked at me with uncertainty on his face, "What about me? Are you going to let me ride back and tell them?"

I shook my head, "They already know what they need to do, you just know the how. You'll be the first one to die."

"That's not fair. I came out here to talk." The strain was evident in his voice.

"How fair was it for the people you work for to cut children up while they were still alive? Why should we show you any mercy?" I watched as his head dropped.

"We didn't have anything to do with that, we, the ten of us, are just drivers. What if we wanted to go on to Santa Fe?" he asked.

"You'll be taking a chance of being arrested and tried for all the murders. By now the Army has the only surviving member of the group that was attacking the wagon trains, and he is talking, long and loud. I'm pretty sure that you're not going to want to be there and have someone find out that you worked for those people, even if all you were doing was driving a wagon. And before you ask there will have been two wagon trains arrive in Santa Fe that know all about this. What do you think the chances are that the governor can keep from being lynched?"

Jeff slumped in his saddle, "We'll be lucky not to get lynched. On top of that, that son of a bitch hasn't paid us."

"You were never going to get paid," I said.

Jeff looked up at me, "What?"

"Lucy Abernathy told me that if you weren't in on the plan then you were going to be arrested and thrown in jail, they never planned to pay any of the drivers. If y'all will give up and go back to St. Jo I'll see that you get paid." I knew if this Van der Wahl was like his brother there was a lock box in his wagon. "Jeff, how many slaves did Van der Wahl have?"

"There's seven negro girls in their teens, five that are indentured, three negro women, one little girl and ten negro men driving wagons. What's going to happen to them?" It was plain that Jeff was not someone that approved of slavery.

"We've freed the others we came across, and that's what I'm planning on doing with these." I saw something in his face and wondered what the story was. I turned to Sam Draper, "Let's go give them the good news and let these people get back to the wagons." Draper nodded and rode over to his people and they started walking back to their wagons. I turned in my saddle, "Column of fours on me. Come on Jeff I want to meet this girl of yours." I had to laugh at the look of shock on his face. "What about the five guards? What are they going to do?"

Jeff looked at the body of his dead boss, "I think the only cause they were ever loyal to was their own pocket."

I looked Jeff in the eye, "They won't fight to keep those wagons?"

Jeff shook his head, "Not against forty revolvers, not to mention the rifles, no matter who's behind them, besides there's nothing in them wagons but trade goods."

I shook my head and smiled, "That comment tells me a lot."

We rode around the circle of wagons at a lope to where the Van der Wahl's wagons were. "Column wheel and face, spread out and keep your eyes open." The forty buckskinned riders turned until they faced the twenty Van der Wahl's wagons. Turning to Jeff, "Jeff will you call the drivers together while I check on the slave problem? By the way, was Van der Wahl married?"

"Yeah, but she hated his guts. I don't know what the story is on that." Jeff left to gather the other nine drivers, and the guards.

After I got to thinking about it I decided that we might as well move our wagons up. I had an idea that I was going to need Lucy and her sister anyway. Turning to my riders, "Let's move our wagons up. Maggie, take who ever you need and bring the wagons over here." I watched with no small amount of pride as Maggie barked off names and orders as they wheeled their horses and rode off in a column of twos.

Jeff snapped me out of my daydream, "Here are the drivers. I told them what you said about Van der Wahl paying us."

"Jeff, are those the guards that Sam Draper is talking to?"

Jeff turned to look and see who Draper was talking to, "Yep, that's them, looks like they are coming over here to talk to you."

The five men that were headed this way looked like they were pissed off, "Two Bears, you got me covered?" Two Bears and nine other Comanche rode in behind me, which made the five angry men to pull up short about ten yards away.

"We didn't have anything to do with attacking those wagon trains," the man shouted at me.

I was pretty sure from what Jeff had told me that none of these men had been, but I was going to feel them out a bit anyway, "Well you were working for a man that was involved, as was his brother and his brother in law. So you can see where I have to be suspicious."

"Mister," a tall lanky man stepped up causing Two Bears and company to raise their rifles, "Whoa! We're unarmed, all of us." I motioned for Two Bears to have the men lower their rifles and the man continued, "Van der Wahl tried to do to us what he did to these drivers. The difference being Hank here told him we'd kill him in his sleep if he shorted us. Mr. Draper said you told Jeff that he was going to throw them in jail instead of paying. Don't you imagine that this jackass was probably going to do the same thing to us since we threatened him?"

I had admit that my impressions of the Van der Wahl brothers led me to believe that they would not have allowed that insult to their manhood to stand, "Yeah, I suspect you gentlemen would have been arrested and fined the full amount of what you'd been paid and any extra you might have had in your pockets. I've got no quarrel with you, if you have pay coming then come on, we'll go get it out of Van der Wahl's strong box, but if you're smart you'll forget who you've been working for, because chances are it could get you lynched."

The lanky man was nodding his head, "I reckon you're right as rain on that Mr.?"

I smiled, "Dunlap, Tom Dunlap, come on let's get your pay." I looked to Jeff, "All right, which one of these wagons was Van der Wahl's personal wagon."

Before Jeff could answer a woman's voice said, "This is the Van der Wahl's wagon. What is your business?"

I turned to put a face to the lovely voice, "Well I'll be. Which one of the Wilson sisters are you?"

"Pricilla. Who are you and how did you know that I was a Wilson?" the lady replied.

I stepped off my horse, took my hat off and swept it across my body as I bowed, "Thomas Jefferson Dunlap, at your service Miss Wilson."

"It's Van der Wahl, Mrs. Jonathan Van der Wahl," she responded.

I put my hat back on and sighed, "Well ma'am I have some bad news about your husband. Mr. Pope shot him earlier when he tried to pull his pistol on me."

Her face showed none of the emotion that one would expect of a woman that had just found out her husband was dead. She looked at me and for a brief second showed a hint of a smile then spoke to me, "Surely there is more to the story than that. He pulled that stunt several times and got away with it."

"Yes, ma'am there is more to the story. Your husband was involved with the men that were attacking the wagon trains and trying to blame it on the Indians. They were the men that were torturing and murdering the children. I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you that, but in a way I'm glad that I wasn't the one that killed him."

"And why pray tell is that Mr. Dunlap?" she asked.

"You would have been the third Wilson sister that I had made a widow," I replied.

"You know my sisters?" her face brightened.

I turned to the riders that were waiting nearby, "Two Bears, send someone to get Broken Knife to bring Lucy and Marie over here."

"Broken Knife?" Her left eye brow arched as she tilted her head and grinned at me.

"Yeah, well I'm going to let them explain Broken Knife to you. Right now I need to know where your husband's strong box is so I can pay these men."

Pricilla smiled, "Of course, come with me." She led Jeff, Hank, one of the guards and me to the back of her wagon. There she counted out what each man was due and then tried to give each of the men a ten dollar bonus. Jeff refused to take it saying she would need the extra money now that her husband was dead. They left her in tears, not for the loss of her husband, but that they had shown more concern for her than her husband ever had.

Pricilla was crying on my shoulder when Broken Knife, Lucy, and Marie showed up along with my girls. I shouldn't have to tell you that eyebrows were raised when that happened.

"Prissy! What are you doing here?" Lucy exclaimed as she slid off Broken Knife's horse and ran to her sister.

Pricilla turned and hugged her sister and the crying began in earnest. If anyone had any ideas about it letting up, they ended when Anne Marie showed up after stopping her wagon beside Pricilla's.

"Look, I hate to break up the reunion but there is the matter of the slaves," I said. Lucy gave Pricilla the abridged version of my emancipation campaign and Pricilla agreed. She called all of the slaves together. After asking two of them to unpack a small secretary and the strong box out of her wagon she sat down and signed the papers freeing all of her slaves.

I had noticed Jeff Golden standing nearby, and it only took watching him a few minutes to know that the green eyed, red haired, freckled face, girl of seventeen or eighteen that was next in line was the girl he was waiting on. After Pricilla signed the papers ending her indentured servitude she ran to him and they kissed and held on to each other like they would never see each other again. After having to hide their affection for so long, freedom now meant that they could be open with their love.

When they had calmed down some they walked over to Pricilla, "Mrs. Van der Wahl," Jeff started.

"Prissy, call me Prissy and I'm a Wilson again now," she interrupted.

Jeff had his hat in one hand and the girls hand in the other, so that when Prissy offered her hand there was a few seconds of confusion before he decided to put his hat back on. Taking Prissy's hand, "Jeff Golden ma'am, ma'am I don't know how to thank you enough. Sally and I have been in love ever since the first day on the trail out here. I was going to try to buy her freedom from you when I got paid. I..."

Prissy smiled, "I'm glad it has all worked out. All of us are free today, and we all have Mr. Dunlap to thank for that."

Prissy turned and gave me a look that said, 'as soon as the sun goes down I'm going to fuck his brains out to thank him.' Lucky for me I wasn't the only one that saw that look. Lucy and Marie grabbed Prissy by the arms and took her out of sight for a talk while all four of my ladies moved in to surround me.

With a cat fight averted, the next order of business was sorting out the wagons. The emancipated slaves were another problem. Technically at this point in time it was illegal to free slaves in Texas and while we were in what would, in my time, be considered New Mexico it was currently part of Texas; the so called 'disputed territory'. It would take the Compromise of 1850 to establish the state lines that I was familiar with and that was still three years away, if it happened.

The changes in what I knew of the history of the southwest were really starting to bother me. I don't know what weapons were going to be in the twenty wagons that I had acquired today, but if these wagons contained the same guns and ammunition in the same ratio then I had enough to outfit a large army. If I united the Plains Indians, the history of the United States would be very different. The so called 'Manifest Destiny' of the U. S. would have a serious road block. The big problem would be that there was no way in hell that the United States would stand for having an Indian nation dividing their country.

The other half of the story was that it would be better for my future family as it stood then to go farther west. Oregon maybe. And what would I do with all these orphans that I'd collected?

As if on cue I looked up to see Tommy coming towards me grinning, with three teenagers following him. More recruits for the orphan train, Tim French, Charlotte Appleton, and Alice Harris. Tim was seventeen and he had taken sixteen year old Charlotte and fifteen year old Alice under his wing, but they had been getting grief from several of the so called adults on the train. I had to smile because it was plain to see that both girls were very much in love with Tim, but seemed to be held back by what the people on their train thought.

Apparently Tommy had told them about me and my girls because that was the first thing they asked about. After shaking hands with each of the teens, Alice the youngest asked, "Is it true you are married to four women?"

I smiled as Tommy tried to hide behind Tim, "Well we haven't been married as such, but we are committed to each other, yes."

"If we join your train can we get married?" Charlotte asked, "I mean the three of us."

"I can't marry you but no one in our group is going to say anything to the three of you if you decide to set up house together. I'm going to tell you right now I don't know for sure where we are going to end up. Right now we are on our way back to meet with Red Hawk's people, after that I don't know what will happen."

Tim nodded his head, "But we can go with you. Right?"

"Yes, it's fine by me but you need to tell Mr. Draper what you're doing."

"Yes Sir! We'll go and do that right now," Tim said, the two girls nodding their agreement.

I watched as the three of them walked to where Sam Draper was talking with some of the men of the wagon train. I wondered what was next. At the same time I realised for the first time that I needed to sit down with Red Hawk and talk to him about the future, but right now what I needed was lunch.

I spotted Beth's wagon and headed for it to see if I could scare up something to eat. As it turned out my timing was perfect, Sam had just put on an antelope steak.

"Sit down and I'll bring you a cup of tea," Beth said.

"How are you feeling today, Beth?" I sat on one of the packing crates that we had taken pistols out of and watched as she poured up my tea.

Beth smiled and brought the cup to me, "I feel great thanks to the care I got from you and my sister wives."

Beth handed me the tea, gave me a kiss, pulled up a second crate and sat down beside me, "What's bothering you my love? You look as though you have the weight of the world on you."

I sighed, "That's exactly what it feels like. Three more orphans want to join us and they are like us. We can't stay in Texas; if we do I'm afraid we'll get caught up in the war that's coming. Part of me wants to help Red Hawk's people and change what happens to them, while another part of me wants to go to Oregon where we can live without being bothered about our life style. Then there are these orphans that deserve to be somewhere where they have a fighting chance to make it. And the slaves, they can't stay here; they need to go north or better still to Oregon. I feel like I've done all I can to wreck the governors plans, but what if he and his cronies come after us? Then all I've done is put all of you in danger."

Beth had been slowly rubbing my back as I unloaded. "Tom, you can't save everyone and no one is expecting you to. Now there's a gentleman here to see you, I'll bring you your meal when it's ready."

While I had had my head down unloading on Beth one of Van der Wahl's Negro slaves had walked up, and was standing in front of me with his hat in his hand, "Mr. Dunlap?"

I stood and offered my hand, "Call me Tom, Mr. Dunlap is my father." I smiled at him, he seemed very unsure about shaking my hand.

It was a shaky hand that reached for mine and I watched as the rest of the recently freed slaves gasp as I took his hand, "I'm Moses Brown massa..."

I cut him off, "Moses, I ain't nobody's master," I looked over his shoulder, "the rest of you men come on over here so we can talk." They looked like frightened animals. If any one ever asks what's wrong with slavery, this is the answer. The men slowly walked over, "Now gentlemen what can I do for you?"

They all looked to Moses, and he looked like he would rather be poking a tooth pick up a grizzly bear's ass" Finally, after what seemed like forever, "Mr. Tom, what's going to come of us?"

"I don't know. What I do know is you're free and that's not going to change. It would be better if you all were in Oregon, but I'm going to need to hire you gentlemen to drive those wagons."

Moses' mouth as well as all of the other ex slaves" mouths were wide open, "You mean yous gona pay us to drive dem wagons?"

"Well of course I'm going to pay you, you're all free men now and I need you to do a job. Does fifteen dollars a month and found sound fair to you?"

Moses turned to the other men who were still too stunned to talk. Moses turned back to me, "Mr. Tom, that sounds like an awful lot of money."

"It's a fair wage because I expect y'all will give me a full day's work. Can any of you blacksmith?"

"Amos and Zack can both shoe horses and mules Mr. Tom, and they gots everything they need to do it in that last wagon," Moses replied.

"As soon as you fellers have finished lunch I'd like for y'all to check all the horses and mules in our group. If there's too many to get done today, we'll just hold up until you get finished."

"We'll get right on it," Moses said, and then turned to leave.

"It'll wait till you get some lunch. Drag up a rock fellers and have a seat; the girls will rustle you up a plate here in a minute or two."

During lunch Red Hawk, Broken Knife, and I talked about what we were going to do. Red Hawk said that there was a good place to camp about five miles from where we were. He wanted to send a couple of riders ahead to make sure it wasn't occupied. He felt it would be better to stop there and get the horses, mules and wagons ready for the rest of the trip.

Red Hawk sent five men ahead to check out the camp site. I had Moses and his men hold off on checking the mules and horses and had them help break camp. A little past mid afternoon forty two wagons headed down the trail. Our outriders were not as impressive as earlier but then someone had to drive the wagons, didn't they? In fact, for the first time since leaving Azle I wasn't going to spend the whole day sitting a horse. Jack was tied to the back of Beth's wagon as I drove it to the next camp. I can't tell you how it felt, Sam was riding her horse on the left side of the wagon. Fran was riding Jill on the right side and there I sat in the centre of the wagon seat with Jana on my left side and Beth on the right. This was the first time for Beth to ride on a wagon seat since she had been shot, but she seemed to be up to it and it was only about five miles so we decided it would be all right. I wish you could have seen her face, smiles like that really should be shared.

Red Hawk had just made a comment on how happy she looked when one of the men he had sent ahead returned and said that another band of Comanche were encamped at the site. When Red Hawk heard that it was Two Horses a smile broke out on his normally stoic face and he took off, his horse at a dead run so fast that he was out of site in just a few minutes.

I guess Broken Knife recognised my puzzled look, "Two Horses is Red Hawk's brother, they haven't seen each other in several years."

I looked at Broken Knife, "There won't be a problem will there?"

Broken Knife shook his head, "No, this is a good thing I think. Two Horses may be able to take some of the burden from your shoulders."

Not for the first time I had to stop and think about Broken Knife and what he had come to mean in my life. It never ceases to amaze me how observant he is and the true inner strength that he has shown in the short time that I had known him. As I watched him ride beside his daughter I realised just how much Sam was like him. It's a good thing I guess, I sure as hell would hate for her to be like her mother.

We came up over a low hill and there below us were twenty of the now familiar Comanche Tee Pees. They differed from other tee pees by having a forth pole that was used for the door. I had the wagons form a defensive half circle around the outside of the tee pees, and asked Broken Knife to pick some people to go scout and make sure we would not have any unwelcome company. I was surprised when eight young men showed up a few minutes later leading their horses. The surprise was in the fact that Broken Knife was pairing up the older orphan boys with the Comanche warriors.

I looked at Broken Knife and nodded my head towards the boys, "They have asked to learn," Broken Knife responded.

"Broken Knife, do you know what Lucy and her sisters want to do about their trade goods? I mean we were going to pay someone in Santa Fe for that stuff. We can just as well pay them. They just need to fix a price on everything."

Broken Knife nodded his head and went to talk to Lucy. I poured myself a cup of tea and was just about to sit on my ass and do some serious thinking when Red Hawk and Two Horses walked up. I stood up and greeted Two Horses as Red Hawk and Broken Knife had shown me and then offered them tea. As soon as they said that they wanted some Fran and Jana were 'johnny on the spot' with two cups and topping mine off to boot. For the next hour we talked about what was happening in Santa Fe and what would happen in the future.

I told the two men that I was pretty sure that if we were to unite all of the plains Indians we could force the United States to deal with us. The problem I saw with that was if we carved out an Indian Nation in the central plains we would, in effect, split the US into two separate countries. And that would just be the recipe for a life of war. We could try and establish our own country, say for just the Comanche, but the fact remained that in the end things were changing. For the Comanche to survive they too would have to change.

We talked about Oregon. I told them that that is where all of these kids really needed to go because there was still unclaimed land there. I also thought that if the Comanche were to make a try at converting from hunter/gatherers to herdsman that it just might be possible to keep their culture alive by becoming ranchers in Oregon. In a way, for the Comanche, it would be coming full circle. Before the arrival of the horse, the Comanche were the Shoshoni, their language was still in fact Shoshoni. The Comanche had separated from the Eastern Shoshoni around 1700 and moved from the upper reaches of the Platte River in what is now eastern Wyoming. Slowly over the next century they crossed the Arkansas River moving into the fringes of the Llano Estacada or Staked Plains. The Llano Estacada was a vast expanse of flat featureless grassland. The name came from early travellers driving stakes to mark the trails as there were so few landmarks. The Llano Estacada was home to the buffalo and antelope and, after the Comanche mastered the horse, their home as well.

Now I was suggesting to them that they forsake their home. Red Hawk had quizzed me a lot on what had happened to the Comanche in Texas. And I had told him the truth, it wasn't that much of a stretch for him to believe it as relations between the Texans and the Comanche were strained already. In a way I was lucky, Red Hawk and Two Horses were smarter than the average person. They knew they could fight it out and live out their lives and perhaps the lives of their children with their lifestyle unchanged, but their grandchildren would pay a high price. I watched as the two men sat silently for over an hour mulling over the possibilities.

Red Hawk finally broke the silence, "Tom, the choice is clear; we must all go to Oregon. If you and your new friends will teach us how to farm and raise cattle, we will teach them how to live off the land."

"Well," I scratched my head, "I guess we need to get everyone together and discuss all of this."

Red Hawk smiled broadly at me, "You tell them what we have discussed and decided. Find out if they want to go and when. It is too late to start to the west now don't you think?"

"Yeah, we'd be in danger of getting caught in the snow in the mountains if we started this late."

Red Hawk smiled broadly, "There are still many cattle and horses that run free in the plains. If we spent the rest of this year gathering and trading for others, we could have a nice herd to take with us. Tom, I'm sending some riders to get the rest of my people and bring them this way, I know a good place for us to stay for the winter."

I don't know about anyone else but I was excited about our future. "I'll go talk to the others." I got up to go talk to the others, "Beth, Fran, Sam, Jana, come here," I called. Soon I was surrounded by the four lovely ladies that I now considered my wives, "You heard?"

They all started talking at once and then stopped looked at each other as some unspoken communication went back and forth. Finally Beth spoke, "Yes, we or rather Sam, heard and she explained what you were saying. We're very excited; do you know what it's like where we'll be going?"

"In a way, by my time they had cut down much of the old growth forest and that's another wrong we will right. Come on, let's go gather everyone together." I took Beth's hand in my right hand and Sam's in the left, Jana grabbed Sam's free hand while Fran took Beth's.

We had only taken a few steps when Fran stopped, "Wait just a minute, I have an idea." She dropped Beth's hand and ran back to our, well Beth's, wagon. There she grabbed a sauce pan and a big spoon, and then ran back to us taking up Beth's hand again. We walked to the centre of the semi circle of wagons and stopped in the shade of a Cottonwood tree. Fran dropped Beth's hand again and started beating the spoon on the bottom of the pan. It made, as you can imagine, a hell of a racket.

Heads came up and looked our way, "Come here everyone," I hollered at the top of my lungs. As the group began to assemble I noticed that none of the former slaves had showed up, "Tommy run and tell Moses Brown that I need to talk to him and all the other former slaves." Tommy was gone in a shot and in a few minutes Moses and the other former slaves had joined the group.

"Why don't you all sit down and make yourselves comfortable. I want to talk to you about our future. This morning I sat down with Red Hawk and Two Horses and we talked about what we needed to do. As it stands right now the former slaves can't stay here. If they do they'll be forced back into slavery and I just can't let that happen. So what can we do? Y'all were on your way to Santa Fe before you ran into me and I don't really know what you were going to do from there. Here is what Red Hawk, Two Horses and I would like to do." For the next hour we discussed going to Oregon and on the whole everyone was for it. While I had the Wilson girls handy, I asked them about setting prices on their goods. That led into a general discussion about money and some folks lack thereof. Fran suggested that all the money and all the supplies be put together. As it was right now the ladies were getting together and cooking supper for everyone since it made for less waste. It was discussed for over half an hour and no one could find a down side to putting it all together so we did. Flo Trammel, as it turned out, was a numbers and money kind of person so she was made the treasurer. Boy howdy was she going to shit when she found out how much money Red Hawk had. I had to laugh though when I realised we had just formed a commune. We were going to jump start the sixties about a hundred years early.

It was one of my sweeties that pointed to a potential problem. Fran stood, drawing my attention to her, she faced me and asked, "What about the rest of Moses" men? I mean I know that Moses, Zack and Amos have wives on the train and there are two other women that were slaves and little Tessa but she's what, six or seven? What will the others do for wives? I'm not saying that they couldn't find someone out there but it may be very hard."

Fran had brought up a real problem. I looked at Moses, "Got any ideas Moses?"

A grin about a mile wide came to Moses' face, "Well Mr. Tom, I believe that if these men need a wife that the Lord will provide one for dem. Yous believe dat Mr. Tom?"

"Well yeah I do, I did think we might need to be a little more proactive though," I replied.

Moses' smile just seemed to get bigger although I wasn't sure how it could. "Mr. Tom, in the good book it says dat faith with out works is dead, right?" I just nodded my head as it looked like he was going to keep talking. "Well in about a month dere'll be a wagon train come through here on its way to Santa Fe and on dem wagons will be a whole bunch of young ladies. Some will be coloured and some won't, some will just be little girls that my old master tricked or forced in to coming. He was going to make dem do bad things Mr. Tom, yous know what I mean?" He didn't seem to be through talking so I just nodded my head again, "Well if that wagon train gets through to Santa Fe dere'll be someone who'll make dem poor girls do the same thing Van der Wahl was going to. So yous see Mr. Tom, if yous and yours Indian friends would teach us how to ride and shoot like these other folks we could maybe help the Lord out a little bit. What do yous think?"

I walked over to where Moses was standing and pulled the bear sized man into a hug which surprised the hell out of him. After releasing him from the hug I stepped back and said, "I think I'll need to find a damn big horse to hold you up."

Turning to Fran, "Well sweetie, you think that will solve the problem?"

Fran wrapped her arms around me, "That should be just right. Moses, why don't you go get your men and have them clean up? The ladies should have supper just about ready."



-------

Chapter 6

We spent the next three days getting wagons repaired and animals shod. It was late in the afternoon on the third day when the members of Red Hawk's band that he had left behind showed up. They were excited to see Two Horse's band there as many had distant kinfolk and friends in his band. There was a lot of visiting going on, so much so that other things were being swept aside. It didn't matter all that much to me but Red Hawk announced that he was hungry and that he had waited as long as he planned to. I thought he was getting close to kicking the dog and kept my big mouth shut for once. In fact, I was in the process of looking busy when Lucy walked up to me.

"Tom, we've just about got supper ready over at the Damron wagon. Are you about through with what you're doing?"

I put the bridle that I was oiling in the back of the wagon along with the oily rag. After wiping my hands on my buckskins I tipped my hat and offered my arm to Lucy, "Ma'am?"

"Why thank you." Lucy hooked her arm in mine and we started towards the Damron wagon. "Tom," Lucy started and then paused, "Tom ... thank you ... for saving me. I hated what I had become. I don't know why I let myself get pulled in like that. I..."

"Lucy forget about it, I see the real you now and I think I understand what happened."

"You do? Please tell me then. I think back on how I treated some of these people, especially Fran, and I am so ashamed of myself." Lucy reached up with her free hand dabbing at the fresh tears.

"Well I call it personality gravity. Simply stated, if you're around bad people they tend to drag you down much faster than you could ever drag them up. I see the kind of person that you are now and there is no way the real you could have survived around your ex-husband. And if the truth be known, he probably didn't want the person you are now anywhere around him." Lucy didn't say a word until we were almost at the Damron wagon.

"You're a good man Tom Dunlap, those girls are very lucky," Lucy said quietly as we were walking up to Broken Knife.

Lucy put her head on Broken Knife's chest and let him wrap his strong arms around her. In his arms she could heal, in his arms Lucy's soul had found peace; her deal with the devil was ended. All three of the Wilson sisters were so very different from the men they were married to, I knew the story of why they were married to those jerks had to be a very interesting one. Yes siree, a very interesting story.

I was pulled away from my thoughts when someone took my arm. I turned expecting one of my lovely wives only to find Prissy. I guess my disappointment showed and she dropped my arm. "Am I that repugnant to you?" a visibly hurt Prissy asked.

I sighed, "It's not that Prissy. I'm in a committed relationship."

"Committed relationship? My sisters said you were taken, but..." Prissy stared at me in disbelief, "I've seen you with four different women."

I looked up to see my lovelies coming to my rescue. They split and came up two on each side, "Prissy, this is Jana, Fran, Sam, and Beth, my wives."

Prissy stood there staring at the five of us, "You're serious? What are you? A bunch of Mormons?"

"No," Prissy's face was a mask of hurt and I really didn't want to add to it, but at the same time I didn't want any misunderstandings, "we're not Mormons, we're five people who love each other very much."

We could see the tears starting to form in her eyes. She motioned towards Fran and Jana, "Weren't you two Lucy's servants?"

Fran reached for Prissy's hand, "Yes, we were. Tom bought our papers. We're his now."

I saw a look go across Prissy's face, "They ain't my servants, we are partners now, equal partners at that."

Prissy forced a smile, "If there's ever room for another partner remember me."

We watched her walk away, Jana sighed and then said what the rest of us was thinking, "That girl is really in love with you."

"What I don't understand is how she was married to a man this morning and this afternoon she's in love with me."

"I know the answer to that," Fran said, "Marie and Prissy were both forced to marry the Van der Wahl brothers. Lucy married Abernathy of her own free will but it was mostly because she wanted out of her father's house. Prissy and Marie were basically sold, but from what Lucy told me they are both virgins because the Van der Wahl brothers preferred each others company. They just wanted Prissy and Marie for show."

"Wow! That's quite a story and I don't think that we need to be passing that information around." I looked at each of the girls and got their agreement. We got some supper and sat down to enjoy it. The subject of weddings came up during supper and we had a pretty good discussion on the who and how, the ceremony would be performed. This led to a general discussion of what rules our group would follow. At some point during the discussion my wives moved away from me a bit and were having their own discussion that I was sure had nothing to do with the way the group was run but, more likely, how I was going to be run.

Tim French did ask Red Hawk if he would perform their wedding and he agreed. They decided that they would have the ceremony at sun rise

The sun had long set and my sweeties were nowhere in sight. I made a loop by to check on the J's and then headed towards our wagon. I stopped for a minute and talked to Broken Knife and Lucy and found that Lucy was overly giggly. It was as though she was privy to something that neither Broken Knife nor I had a clue about. I tried to worm it out of her but she just grinned and said, "You'll find out." Well it didn't take long to get all of that kind of teasing that I wanted. I bid the two lovers good night and headed towards our wagon.

Red Hand and Liz stopped me and I visited with them for a few minutes. It was soon obvious that Liz was another one that was privy to the joke that was about to befall me. I thanked her for her teasing and walked the last few feet to my doom.

Giggling was filling the air as I walked up to our wagon, "Hi honeys, I'm home," I called out. Shushes and more giggling was all the response that I received. I climbed the little ladder we had made to ease our entry and exits from the wagon. "Is there a special reason why y'all didn't light a lamp?" I pulled off my shirt and boots then slipped off my pants, all of this done in the dark. Once I was in my all together I went to get in the bed, Sam and Jana quickly moved me to the centre of the bed and on my back. For some reason I seemed to be closer to the edge than normal. Once on my back I was soon smothered in kisses. Then one of my lovelies crawled on top of me and as soon as I touched her breast I knew something was amiss.

Jana said, "Quick, you need to kiss him."

The strange breasts were connected to a strange set of lips. I was about to protest when those lip met mine. The kiss was just like the first time that I had kissed all my lovelies and all I could do other than kiss back was to utter a groan. That groan elicited the heavily accented "Oh goodie!" that Sam was famous for, followed by clapping from the two wagons on either side. That ordinarily would have embarrassed the hell out of me but the kisses from who ever this was were about to cause me to completely melt.

When the kiss finally did break a voice I instantly recognized as Prissy's said, "Oh Tom! I've been in love with you since I first saw you today." She punctuated that sentence with another searing kiss. She was rubbing her slit back and forth on my dick and it was driving me crazy. "Tom, make me a woman!" She lifted herself up and fitted my cock into her dripping pussy and started putting pressure on it.

For what seemed like the longest time nothing happened, and then suddenly my cock pushed past the remains of her hymen as she hissed through the pain and began to chant through clinched teeth, "burns!, burns!, burns!," She raised up until just the head remained then slid downward. Three times she repeated the process until finally on the fourth try our pubic hair met and we groaned together. With our bodies joined, Prissy laid forward and started kissing me and we were joined by the rest of our family. Jana lit a lantern and turned it down low so she could see to help clean her sister/wife without giving everyone in camp a show.

Beth leaned down close to my face, "You're not mad at us are you? We saw how much Prissy loved you and we know how that feels. After supper tonight we went and talked to her." Beth turned Prissy's face towards her and they kissed, Beth was followed by Fran, and then Sam and finally Jana. "There'll be more than the French family getting married tomorrow," Jana moaned as she went over the top.

Prissy's body had had time to adjust to the invader so now she started raising and lowering her body onto my cock as the other four lovelies groped every square inch of Prissy's body. When Beth discovered that Prissy's anal rose was overly sensitive she quickly lubed a finger with her saliva, inserted it and started driving Prissy toward her peak. I, for one, was very thankful. Prissy's pussy was milking me and I was not going to be able to hold out very much longer and told the girls so, not that they needed telling.

Sam used one of her fingers and started tormenting Prissy's clit while Fran and Jana took a nipple apiece and started sucking and nibbling. Prissy's up and down motion was being replaced by the fluttering and squeezing of her vagina as she rapidly approached her orgasm. I let out a groan that the girls recognized. Sam strummed Prissy's clit as Fran and Jana gave each of her nipples a firm bite. Just as I thrust hard up into Prissy and started cumming, Beth plunged her finger deeply into Prissy's anus. Prissy was already cumming, Beth's finger just caused that cum to multiply by several orders of magnitude. It also caused one other event, Prissy cried out "Oh my Godddddd!" and promptly fainted.

In the silence that followed Lucy, Marie, and Liz Damron could all be heard giggling like school girls. Their giggling caused my girls to giggle. Giggling was picked up by the female members of wagons on the other side of Lucy and Liz's wagons and soon it spread around the whole circle of wagons.

Of course it didn't end there, how could it? The force of Prissy's climax only served to ignite my other lovelies. They gently eased Prissy off of me and made her comfortable. Then a pussy descended on to my face and as soon as I stuck my tongue into it I knew who its owner was. I knew, not because I was familiar with it but just the opposite. I knew because the clit I now had my tongue wrapped around was much bigger than any of the three I normally put my tongue into so that meant that the clit in question belonged to Beth. I knew from the few times I had allowed myself to play with Beth that her clit was much larger than the other three women, now four. Sucking on that big rascal caused it to more than double in size and made Beth groan loud enough to start the wagon wide giggling up again.

Sam and Jana had revived my hard on and now Fran slid her dripping pussy down on my cock. It didn't take Fran very long for her to find her happy place and when she did she was rolled to the side to make room for the next rider.

Beth had apparently had all the fun she could stand riding my face and laid down beside me. I kissed her beautiful face and when the kiss ended she said, "Tom, make love to me, please."

"Are you sure?" I asked as I looked into her eyes and saw the need.

"Tom I need this. I need to feel you inside me. I won't feel whole until you do." Beth kissed me as I moved between her legs. Jana and a revived Prissy provided guidance, while Fran and Sam added extra kisses to Beth and me as slowly and gently the five of us made love to Beth. Beth's barrier, weakened by various fingers over the past weeks, succumbed with minimum force. With each stroke Beth and I got more and more excited. Normally the second cum takes a long time, but this was Beth and I'd had to wait for her and I hadn't realised how much I wanted her. I didn't understand why consummating our love was so important but I now knew that it was and not just for me. I was so wrapped up thinking about that, my orgasm was upon me before I realised it and as I came, so did Beth.

As Beth came down from her high she started saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you,"

Thinking I'd get my "thank yous" in I said, "Thank you, my lovely Beth."

"No Tom," Beth began, "you don't understand, tonight was my most fertile time. Chances are you have made a baby in me."

Beth's words stirred some primal urge inside me and instantly I started getting hard again. As soon as Beth felt me begin to harden she giggled and said, "Next?"

Jana giggled and started saying, "Me, me, roll him over Beth."

Beth and I rolled over and Fran and Sam both went for my cock at the same time which resulted in the two of them butting heads and giggling like school girls. While the two of them were trying to decide who got clean up, Prissy aced both of them.

Prissy helped Jana mount up and she went for her ride. Before the night was over I made love to all of my ladies. Only Beth and Prissy got deposits from me but everyone was happy; especially Beth. I went to sleep holding Beth and Prissy and thinking about the possibility that in nine months I'd be a daddy, it was a thought that made me very, very happy, but motherhood made me think of my own mother. I realised for the first time just how much I missed her. Maybe I should feel guilty because, while I missed my mother, I didn't have the same feelings for my father. Tonight for the first time in my life I needed to talk to my mother and she was a hundred fifty nine years away.

-------

All right so maybe I should have seen what was waiting for me the next morning, but I didn't. Red Hawk and Two Horses humour was intact and active; they had everyone in camp waiting right outside our wagon. I don't know how they kept so quiet, but there they were and as soon as I stuck my head out of that wagon they started clapping. This caused the five beautiful heads of my wives to poke out of the wagon, and that caused the clapping to get louder with a few hoots and hollers thrown in for good measure. The girls were embarrassed. Me? Well I knew exactly what we needed to do and I hurried the girls out and holding their hands, we took a bow. It meant nothing to Red Hawk and the rest of the Comanches but Lucy got busy and explained what it meant which caused Two Horses to bust out laughing after he asked if they would have to endure the noise of nightly performances. I simply looked at the five beauties standing beside me and answered, "Most likely," which made everyone laugh.

Red Hawk led us to a low hill just outside of camp. There he married six groups, and a total of nineteen people. Besides me and my five lovelies, Broken Knife married Lucy and her twin sister Marie. Red Hand married Elizabeth Damron, and Tim French married his two sweethearts, Charlotte and Alice. Two Bears married Betty Dillard and Tina Cole, they had been Marie's indentured servants and for whatever reason those three had hit it off. The last of the wedding parties was Jeff Golden and Sally Gibbons. Jeff and the rest of the drivers had decided to stay with us. Personally, I think they just wanted to see what happens when we hit that wagon train full of girls headed for the Van der Wahl's whore houses.

After the ceremony we got busy, packing everything and then hitching up. We were headed to a place that Red Hawk knew about where we would wait out the month or so; waiting on Milt and his bunch to bring us the saddles and tack, and the train with the girls that was supposed to be headed to Santa Fe. It took two days to get there but the trip accomplished something no one had thought about. Red Hawk and Two Horses learned how easy it was to move a camp with a wagon. We had unloaded all of the travois and stowed their loads on the wagons and, where normally someone would have to walk leading the travois horse, everybody rode.

The only bad thing about the place where we were camping was that we were a hard day's travel off the main Santa Fe Trail. There was very little worry about missing the wagon trains we were waiting on though since we had scouting parties out every day. The scouting parties weren't the only thing we were doing to fight boredom.

Every day was spent drilling our mounted fighters. With Two Horses' men, and the rest of Red Hawk's men, we could now mount sixty Comanche. By adding the volunteers over the age of fifteen we could add another forty. We practiced every day on our horsemanship and one day a week on our shooting. So after a month of this we were pretty good. Then our scouts came back to report that Milt and his men were just a few days away and staying back, just out of site, were twenty armed men.

It didn't take much imagination to connect these men with the governor. I figured that since they had only sent twenty men that they must think that it's just the original six of us. Our scouts had seen one of the men in Milt's group use a mirror to signal the men following Milt's wagons. So we knew that once the six of us showed up we would be bait.

-------

We took three empty wagons and went to meet Milt. The place where we wanted to meet him was an open area with two low hills one on each side of the trail. Our riders had split into two groups and hid behind the two hills. Our riders saw the man flash the signal as I rode up to Milt.

"Son, I'm sorry that you're here," Milt said.

I smiled at Milt, "You mean to tell me that you think I'd let myself get caught by the twenty armed men that have been following you?" The man with the mirror started to look panicky. "You do anything stupid mister and you'll be dead before your buddies can get here. Give me your mirror."

The man's eyes never left the muzzle of Broken Knife's Henry which was pointed right at his chest. He very carefully pulled out the mirror and handed it to me. "How did you know?"

"We've been watching you for two weeks," I said.

Milt started laughing, "I guess those twenty men are going to get a surprise?"

"You might say that," I grinned. You could see the dust of the twenty men as they unsuspectingly rode toward us. The six of us mounted our horses, "Milt, tie this one up, I doubt that any of the others will survive." Milt's men were all laughing; they had been under the threat of the twenty men since the second day on the trail when he had told them what they planned to do.

Milt and his men watched as the twenty men rode towards me and my five Comanches. The fun started when they cleared the two hills and one hundred riders closed in behind them, rifles up.

I wasn't sure what to expect but it wasn't what happened. As soon as they saw the riders filling in behind them they threw down their guns and put their hands in the air. Not that I blame them, if one hundred of the best cavalry in the world was to catch me with my pants down I'd put my hands up in a hurry too.

We rode out to meet them, their leader was apparently feeling a little betrayed, "We were told that there were only six of you," the leader said.

"And who was it that told you this blatant falsehood?" I asked.

"It was the governor," the man replied.

"They haven't lynched that asshole yet?"

"No sir, they haven't,"

I looked at the man and decided what I was going to do, "I want you to go back to Santa Fe. You tell the governor that I am returning to the plains and I am going to arm every Comanche I can and I am coming to Santa Fe after him. Tell the people that they have nothing to fear if they get rid of the governor. If they back him, we'll kill them all. We have five hundred rifles and double that and more in revolvers and all the powder and ball we need. Also there will be no more wagon trains allowed to get into or leave Santa Fe until the governor is dead. Tonight I am sending word to the Apache and offering them assistance. I want the governor dead, if we have to kill everyone in Santa Fe to do it we will. Am I clear?" I turned to the five Comanches behind me and told them in Comanche to get on their horses and take off in every direction but stop when they get out of sight. They took off and I heard a collective gasp from the twenty men in front of me, "I just sent them to start gathering the tribes. You have just enough time to deliver your message and get out of town. Pick up your guns and get, but don't forget the spy. One other thing, if you're in Santa Fe and working for the Governor when we get there you are not going to like the way you die. You understand what I'm saying?"

The man nodded, "Yes Sir, I understand. If I can find other work in Santa Fe I'll stay but I promise you I'm through with that lunatic governor."

One of the men led a horse down to Milt's wagons to pick up their man. While they were waiting on him, Red Hawk must have decided that it would be a good time to put on a show. And a show it was, one hundred mounted riders doing one maneuver after another, splitting into groups of ten, twenty five, and fifty separating and joining again. They ended the demonstration by setting up a man sized target and each rider came by firing one shot either pistol or rifle while the horse was running. Many fired from under the horse's neck using the horse's body to shield them as they would in an actual battle. It was an impressive show of the abilities of horse and rider. When it was over, two of the riders retrieved the target and brought it to the leader of the men that had been sent to kill us.

The two riders, Maggie Smith and twelve year old Tommy Davidson, handed the target to the man. "Remember what you saw here today," Maggie told the man. Then Tommy and her spun their horses and rode back to their places in line.

Milt and his men rode up beside me during the show. When it was over Milt turned to me, "You could rule this whole part of the world with that bunch."

"Yeah, but all we want is to find a place where we can live in peace and raise our families."

Milt smiled, "How are your ladies by the way?"

I put my fingers to my mouth and let loose a whistle. Five of the riders broke formation and headed toward us. Milt's eyebrows shot up. "There's five of them."

My girls slid to stop in front of us, "My wives, Beth, Fran, Sam and Jana you know, this is Prissy, she is a sister to Lucy who used to be Mrs. Abernathy."

Milt and the other men all tipped their hats, "It's good to meet you Miss Prissy, Ladies it's good to see you again too, especially you Beth. It looks like you are well now."

Beth laughed, "Of course, I had the best doctor and finest nursing in the world."

Milt had to explain to the new men what had happened. They didn't want to call Milt a liar but it was plain that they didn't believe his story. Beth eased her buckskin jersey out of her pants and raised it up enough to uncover her scar, "Do you believe it now?"

The man shook his head, "I'm sorry I ever doubted you ma'am."

We rode over to start loading the wagons, "Tom, just unload the stuff in the first two wagons. You can have the other four wagons, mules and all."

"Thanks Milt, we have a project coming up, we could use the extra wagons."

Milt started nodding his head, "Would that involve a bunch of young ladies?"

"Yes, it does. What have you heard?"

"Well the governor's men have taken over one of the hotels there and have been bragging that they have a bunch of girls coming to provide entertainment. I take it that they aren't going to make to Santa Fe?" Milt asked, his face breaking out into a grin as he said it.

"No! I'm pretty sure those girls are going to get the chance to decide what they want to do for themselves rather than being forced into prostitution."

Milt smiled, "You're just bound and determined to upset the governor, ain't you?"

"Yeah, well I told the leader of that bunch they sent after me that I was going to go and gather all the Comanches that I could arm and then I was coming for the governor. I meant it as a bluff but I may have to follow through and shut down the trail. Why didn't the army do anything to him?"

Milt sighed, "We turned that feller over to the army and he told his story. The commander sat there with his mouth open, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. When that boy got through with his story the post commander sent a message to his commander asking what to do, but I don't mind telling you he is worried that the governor is going to attack his men before it's all over."

A gunshot from the top of the nearby hill interrupted our conversation. Looking up to the lookout I watched as he went through the prearranged hand signals. "What does all that mean?" Milt asked.

"The lookout says that two of our scouts are headed this way in a big hurry which means that something is up," Broken Knife explained to Milt in English as good as or better than Milt spoke, much to his surprise.

"Your English has sure improved, how'd that happen?" Milt was grinning as he asked.

Broken Knife laughed, "If you had two wives that spoke Comanche you'd learn Comanche as fast as I've learned English."

Milt laughed and shook his head, "I 'spect I would at that, Broken Knife."

The two riders rode up and handed their horses off to be cooled down and taken care of, and then they walked over to where Red Hawk, Two Horses, and I were standing. "What's going on Josh?"

"Two Bears and I were near the end of our patrol when we spotted the wagon train with the girls in it, they're about six or seven miles back and headed this way but we also spotted a single Pawnee. We tried to get to him but he had too big of a head start. We figured he was scouting for that large band we have been seeing so we thought we better find you fast before they decide to hit those wagons."

"You did the right thing Josh, go see if some of the girls can get you two something to eat." I turned to Red Hawk and Two Horses, "We better get to those wagons fast don't you think?"

Two Horses turned and gave a whistle and immediately ten buckskinned riders ran up to get their orders. We had divided up our group into ten person squads, they were men and women, Comanche, black and white but the one thing they all had in common was leadership. Two Horses looked over the squad leaders, "Maggie, Tim, and Lone Elk, take your squads and finish transferring the supplies and then escort our wagons and Milt's toward the other wagon train."

"Basically everything is packed and ready to go right now," Maggie reported.

"Good work Maggie, you're in charge," Two Horses told her. Then Two Horses turned the other squad leaders, "Gather your troops and mount up." The seven squad leaders left at a dead run barking orders in Comanche and English.

"If that governor, or that army feller, either one had seen what I have today they'd be scared to death." Milt smiled and reached for my hand, "Thanks for the escort, if'n they found us, them Pawnees would make short work of us."

We mounted up and left at a ground eating trot. Over the next few miles we alternated between trotting and loping and quickly covered the distance between us and the wagon train. When we caught up with the wagons they had just circled up because of the Pawnees. Red Hawk, Two Horses, and I rode up and stopped on top a hill overlooking the wagons and the Pawnees, leaving our troops out of sight on the other side of the hill. Our arrival caused the Pawnee to pull up short as they watched the three of us watch them. Over the last few weeks they had seen members of our band in twos and threes and on a couple of occasions they had attacked. Now they seemed confused as to what to do, finally their chief sent ten of the thirty something Indians to attack the three of us. We waited until they were about halfway to us and then I ordered our troops to ride into sight. The effect on the ten Pawnee was nothing short of comical. Suddenly they were faced with seventy mounted riders. They stopped dead in their tracks and Two Horses called out for them to drop their weapons. That seemed to make them angry so they began their attack on us again. Two Horses just ordered the first squad to take aim and fire.

Ten Pawnee fell from their horses. I waved to the wagons and yelled at them not to shoot at us. We then wheeled and lined up to attack the Pawnee when they realised that they were about to be the ones under the guns. They had only to look at the ten dead cohorts to know the power of our group. They turned tail and hauled ass, the people in the wagon train started cheering.

Two Horses started barking orders and the seventy horses and riders went from abreast to columns of three with the squad leaders out to the side. Once our column was formed we rode down to the wagon train.

The wagon master introduced himself, "I'm Daniel Willet and I sure appreciate you helping us out." He pointed to the man next to him, "This is Jake New my scout, he says they were Pawnee but he's not real sure what tribe your friends are from since they don't have any distinguishing clothing on, he did say that he suspected that they were Comanche but he's not sure."

I smiled at the man although I really didn't like him, "Are you carrying a bunch of women for the Van der Wahl brothers?"

"Yes, we are, is that a problem?" Willet asked.

I looked up to see Milt's and our wagons coming down the hill towards us. I stood in the saddle and turned to my left, "Lucy, Marie, and Prissy come here please." The three women fell out of their squads and loped their horses up beside me. "These three ladies are the widows of the late Van der Wahl's and Abernathy. They will be taking possession of the women now."

Willet started shaking his head, "I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

I smiled at him and said loudly, "Present Rifles and aim." The three squads that we had left with Milt had joined the ranks and the sound of one hundred rifles chambering a round will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. When all of them swung to point at the wagon master I smiled and asked, "Oh, and why's that?"

The wagon master was sweating now, "You'd take them by force?"

"The girls are coming with us, whether you're here to see it, that's up to you. I'll tell you this too, if you have any freight wagons that belong to these ladies we'll be taking them as well. Personally I don't understand why you would care one way or another."

Willet looked at the mounted riders and knew that there was no way he could win against that many rifles. "There are ten wagons that belong to Abernathy and ten that belong to the Van der Wahl brothers."

We had one of the wagons pull forward and we had our troops ride inside the circle of wagons and take position. The squad with my ladies in it were sent to go get the girls while Red Hawk, Two Horses, and I went to check on the other wagons.

Once we had sorted out the Abernathy and Van der Wahl's wagons we looked over all of the other wagons. There were five wagons full of supplies headed to Santa Fe. We told the owners we would buy them from them. At first they didn't want to sell, but when we explained that this was as close to Santa Fe as those wagons would be able to get they gladly took our gold.

The girls were a sad story, many were teens, two were only twelve; they were pulled out of orphanages and told that a husband awaited them on the other end of the trail; the truth was a little harsher.

We had the squads of freed slaves go to the female slaves and explain to them that they were now free and would be joining our band. Some cried and some just couldn't believe it.

We told Willet that from now on all wagon trains would be stopped and all slaves removed and excess supplies bought, but nothing will get through until the governor leaves. We sent Willet and what was left of his train on down the trail; it was early afternoon so they would be a good many miles away by sunset.

As soon as we got drivers situated we left the main trail headed to a nearby spring. It took us about two and a half hours to get there and another hour to set up camp and get supper started. Scouts were sent out and the pickets set as we settled in to spend the night.

Tommy Davidson had the two twelve year old girls and the other young teens wide eyed as he told of the battles he'd fought in. I hadn't thought about it much but as I listened to him I realised he had been in every major action we had been in. My wives and I watched as the two twelve, a thirteen, and a fourteen year old girl fell in love with the brave young warrior. I don't think that Tommy even knew what was happening and I'm sure he wasn't doing it to impress them. Tommy was just doing what Tommy did best; help other orphans find a place to belong. It was interesting to watch as the teenaged girls paired up with the different teenage males in our group.

Perhaps the most interesting pairing that happened that first night was sixteen year old Jenny and fifteen year old Nellie. Frank Polk had been the only one of the teens not to find someone to hang with. His brother and sister both had people that they sparked, as they called it, and poor old Frank had no one. At least till now. Frank saw the two girls looking more lost than anything and went to them. He helped them get supper and find some blankets for them to sleep on. At first they deferred to him as their white master.

Frank was quite possibly the only person in the group that was more anti slavery than I was. He explained real fast that he was their friend not their master and after a couple of hours he was able to draw them into a conversation. I'm not sure when they fell in love but the next morning Frank was waiting by the wagon that me and my sweeties slept under to ask me if it was all right if he sparked the two girls. I told him he needed to ask them, not me. He smiled about as big as Texas and hauled ass back to the girls.

After a quick breakfast we got on the trail. It would take us most of two days to get the wagons back to our base camp.

The weeks passed slowly without much happening. Over the next two months we stopped two more wagon trains and bought all their extra supplies. Then came the day when our scouts reported a group of ten wagons being escorted by a troop of U.S. Cavalry. Now what was going to happen?



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Chapter 7



We watched the wagon train and cavalry for over a week. We thought it best that we had them at the greatest disadvantage. They would be at that place tomorrow around noon and we would be there waiting.

The wagon train and cavalry entered the narrow canyon, their scouts having cleared it two hours earlier. We knew because we watched them and then moved in right behind them. Once they were all the way in two squads of our cavalry closed off their escape. Red Hawk, Two Horses, and I rode out of the rocks carrying a white flag as the Captain called his troops to a halt.

I noticed several of the Captains men reaching for the flaps of their holsters, "Captain tell your people to keep their hands away from their guns."

"Why should I?" The captain asked.

Two Horses whistled and the ridges on both sides of the narrow canyon bristled with guns. "Is that a good enough reason?" I asked the captain. The captain turned in his saddle and ordered his men to keep their hands away from their guns. When he turned back to us I spoke, "I'm Tom Dunlap, this is Red Hawk and Two Horses and you are?"

"Captain Robert Mills, can I ask why you have stopped us like this?" the captain seemed surprisingly calm.

I was about to answer him when a series of whistles came from the top of the canyon. The three of us pulled our pistols, "Captain Mills, some of your people are doing something very stupid and you are about to die."

The captain spun his horse around and started screaming at one of his sergeants. The sergeant rode up to him and whispered something to him. The captain turned to us, "The people your men saw are civilians that I have had nothing but hell with. You have my permission to kill them."

Two Horses let loose with a series of whistles and two shots rang out followed by a series of whistles. "They're both dead which brings me to the reason we stopped you. We would like to search the wagons those men are driving." Two Horses issued another series of whistles and two squads of our cavalry rode into the canyon to follow us to the wagons.

The Captain, Red Hawk, Two Horses, and I rode to the first wagon and dismounted. I pulled out my sword cut the dried flower stalk of a yucca and measured the outside depth of the wagon. Then I stuck it inside to see how deep it was, "Do you think this wagon has a twelve inch thick bottom Captain?"

The Captain turned to look at the driver who started to draw a pistol from his waist, the man suddenly jerked as a half inch hole appeared in his forehead. "Arrest every one of these drivers right now," the Captain barked at his men. Two more shots were fired leaving two more bodies before all the drivers surrendered. "What's this all about Mr. Dunlap?"

"What do you know about the governor of Santa Fe?" I asked.

"I'm going there to arrest him and see him hung. Is this more of his treason?" The Captain asked.

"Do you know Milt Thorp, Captain?"

"Yes I talked to him on the trail, he told me about the governor's brother and son." The Captain smiled broadly, "He also told me about you. Can I assume that the governor has been denied his supplies?"

"The only wagon trains that have got through have done so with only enough supplies to get to Santa Fe. You might say we've had them under a siege of sorts, but we've got all of his guns and ammunition. We also stopped the train carrying the girls they were going to force into prostitution, they are with us now."

"I see," the Captain was deep in thought for a minute, "Mr. Dunlap there are ten young girls on this train that were pulled out of an orphanage and promised husbands. Does that sound like the bunch in Santa Fe?"

"Yes, it does, how young are these? Some of that last bunch was as young as twelve." I was really getting pissed about this man. "Look Captain I can't let these guns go through. I don't know how many men the governor has but if he gets these repeating rifles and revolvers even a few becomes formidable. I am really getting sick and tired of this guy, will you and your men stay here with us and train? We have just taken in three more bands of Comanches." I saw the Captain's eyes go wide, "Before you go to getting your panties in a wad Captain, these Comanche are good people and as soon as this mess is cleared up all of us are going to the northwest. We have a mixed race community of Indians, whites, and ex-slaves and we plan to live out our lives as free men and women."

The Captain nodded his head, "Milt said you had a good head on you. Do you think with our combined force we can take the governor's men?"

"Can we count on support from the military commander at Las Vegas?" While the Captain mulled that over I turned to Two Horses, "Let's recall everyone and get these wagons to the creek and camp set up."

The Captain watched in awe as Two Horses started whistling out the commands. Within thirty minutes squads had formed on both ends of the canyon. Two Horses turned to Capt. Mills and in perfect English said, "Capt. Mills, if you would give the orders to your men to mount up we can get to the camp site before dark."

The Captain smiled broadly, "Yes Sir," The Captain turned to his sergeant, "Get 'em mounted up and moving."

"Sir, should I have some of our men drive the wagons?" the sergeant asked.

Capt. Mills turned to Two Horses, "Do you have drivers for the wagons where we have arrested the drivers?"

Two Horses issued a short series of whistles, squad leader Maggie Smith slid her horse to a stop, her right forearm with her hand made into a fist came across in front of her chest in a salute, "Sir"

"Your squad is to drive the wagons to the camp site," Two Horses was watching the Captain watch the young lady.

Maggie spun her horse and issued her own whistle commands and nine riders came thundering up to her, "We need to get these wagons to the camp site." The riders saluted with their forearms across their chest and started dismounting and tying their horses to the wagons and climbing into the seats. Maggie had taken the lead wagon that Two Horses had been next to. She listened as one by one each of the riders in her squad whistled indicating they were ready to roll. Maggie turned to Two Horses, "Ready to move on your command sir."

The Captain was standing there open mouthed, "What's the matter Captain?" I asked.

"Are all of your people like this young lady?" the Captain asked.

I was very proud of our people, we had worked hard at our training and everyone involved knew that they were being watched and that just made them try that much harder, "All our people give everything they have every day." I winked at the Captain, "Trooper Smith, what's your squad's motto?"

"Sir! Good enough, ain't, Sir!" Maggie shouted.

"Each squad has a motto?" the Captain asked.

"Maggie, you want to answer that?"

"Yes, Sir," Maggie turned to the Captain, "Sir, each squad has its own motto, and name, the squad also picks out the symbol for the squad flag."

The Captain was nodding his head, "Trooper, how do you feel about the people in your squad?"

You could literally see Maggie swell with pride, "Sir they are my family and the other squads are my family, I would die to protect my family, Sir!"

The Captain shook his head and then came to attention and saluted Maggie. She in turn came to attention and returned his salute with the one she and the other riders had picked for themselves. "Carry on Trooper."

I was as proud as I could be and looking at Two Horses and Red Hawk it was plain to see that they were just as proud. "Captain, would you fight beside my people?"

"I would be proud to," the Captain said and then mounted his horse and then turned to Maggie, "Trooper Smith would you give the orders."

"Sir! Yes Sir! Troops prepare to mount ... Mount! Forward at a walk." Maggie was beaming.

It took an hour to reach the camp site. Along the way Maggie had called me over to the wagon she was driving. Maggie begged, pleaded, and cajoled me into putting on a demonstration for the boys in blue. It really didn't take as much talking as she thought I just enjoyed hearing all the reasons she was coming up with.

Once the wagons had been circled I called the Captain to me, "Captain, I have been asked to let the troops put on a demonstration for you, would you mind inspecting the troops and allow us to put on a bit of a show?"

"I'd be honoured," the Captain replied then turned to his sergeant, "Get the troops mounted and let's see what they can do." The Captain's men mounted up as Two Horses started whistling out commands.

It started off with the entire unit passing in revue. A column of threes by squads which meshed into columns of ten, then the ten horses abreast did a wheel turn of 180 degrees as the ten horses that were behind them joined them. Now twenty horses stood side by side ten facing forward and ten backward they begin to rotate maintaining perfectly straight lines. After each revolution ten horses are added to each end, while this was going on Red Hawk, Two Horses, and I set up three targets. Suddenly the perfectly straight lines begin to curve until they had formed two circles as the riders sped up to a gallop. A whistle was heard over the thunder of the hoofs and the two circles rotating in opposite directions.

At that whistle the circles became a column of twos riding right at the centre target. The riders fired five shots at the target and then veered off either left or right depending on which column the rider was in. As the riders peeled off they began to reform back into squads as they slowed the mounts to a walk. Finally, at a final whistle, they came to a stop and rotated to face the Captain and his men.

The Captain and his men could not believe their eyes. As soon as the squads stopped they started clapping. As the Captain and his men were cheering the performance they had just seen, they saw one member of each squad dismount and run to the centre of the area they had used as a parade ground. The twenty people on foot spread out as the squads trotted to the end of the area. Two riders would take off at a gallop headed straight at the man on the ground. When they met, the person on the ground would swing up behind the saddle of the rider. This was repeated for each of the twenty squads. The riders formed back into squads and as they passed the targets they fired with pistols this time and from under the neck of the horses at a dead run. At the end of this the riders formed back into their squads and the smiles on their faces were gleaming in the afternoon sun.

I rode over to the Captain, "Would you like the honour of dismissing the troops."

Captain Mills sat a little straighter in the saddle, "Yes, I'd like that very much." The Captain rode out a little ways towards the troops, "Squad leaders post!" The squad leaders left the tightly dressed lines and approached the Captain. "Never in my life have I seen a better demonstration of horsemanship ... and horsewomanship. You are without any doubt the very best cavalry in the world. Today I have seen you demonstrate courage, skill, and esprit de corp on a scale that I never thought possible. Thank you for allowing me this honour." The Captain came to attention and saluted the Squad leaders. They in turn came to attention and saluted him, "Squad leaders, you may dismiss your troops."

Twenty squad leaders as one whistled a command and every rider came to attention, another whistle and they all saluted as one, a third and last whistle and they dismounted and led their mounts as squad leader's barked orders causing part of the troops to break off and head for the wagons.

Captain Mills turned to me, "What are those troops going to do?"

"Those are the troops whose turn it is to help with supper so someone else will take care of their mounts while they go and start the meal. It's how we do things in the field. What'd you think of my women, children, slaves, and Indians?"

"I think they could out ride, and out shoot any mounted cavalry in the world. That's what I think. I noticed that the four men that were shot today were all head shots."

I nodded my head, "Every squad has a sharpshooter I'm not sure who the shooters were today. Will you have supper with us tonight? I'd like for you to meet my wives."

The Captain's head turned quickly towards me before breaking into a grin, "I'd be glad to. Sergeant, dismiss the men and have them set pickets."

"Captain, if you don't mind would you have your men guard the prisoners and our people will man the pickets. Be sure and tell the prisoners that," I laughed as I told the Captain. We rode our horses over to where the chuck wagon was and handed our mounts off to one of the troopers so they could be cared for.

"Captain Mills these are my ladies, Sam, Fran, Jana, Prissy and Beth." Beth's belly was already starting to show the baby growing there. "The show had delayed supper a bit I'm afraid."

Beth handed the Captain a cup of tea and he took a sip before speaking, "I'd give up supper every night for a week to see a demonstration like that."

I couldn't help but feel proud of our folks after hearing something like that. The Captain took a sip of his tea, and then asked, "How many people are in your band now? Milt thought you had around a hundred riders, he missed that by a long shot."

"Well," I started, "when Milt was through here that's probably about what we had. But since then we've had five or six bands join us and we turned away one bunch because Two Horses didn't like their attitude. Right now, well when we left we had between three and four hundred people. The problem has been training. We should be able to mount another hundred and fifty to two hundred troops by time the next full moon comes around."

Jana and Fran brought the Captain and me a plate of beans and buffalo meat. The Captain swallowed his first mouthful, "Why the full moon? You're not going to attack it at night are you?"

I nodded my head as I had a mouthful of food at the time but after I swallowed, "Yes siree, we sure are. Santa Fe will go to sleep one night under the governor's rule and wake up with you in charge."

"Me! I don't have any orders like that," the Captain exclaimed.

"Who was supposed to take over after you arrested the governor?" I asked knowing that everyone that was there right now was dirty. The Captain was mulling it over when I interrupted him, "Look, anyone that is in that government right now is dirty. We don't have to execute all of them but there ain't no way in hell I'm leaving anyone that was in a position of authority in a position where they can start this crap all over again after we leave."

The Captain nodded his head, "All right I see that, but the Commandant at Las Vegas outranks me, wouldn't it be better if he took over?"

"That may well be what happens but the Commandant is not going to know what's going on until it is all over."

Before either of us could continue our conversation, Tim French came running up. He came to attention bringing his closed fist across his chest in salute, "Trooper French reporting, Sir!"

I thought it interesting how normally the salutes were not always so fast in coming but with the Captain around they all seemed to want to impress and I had to admit they were doing a bang up job. I stood up and returned his salute, "Well as I didn't send for you what is it that you're reporting?"

"Sir, five of the wagons are filled with brand new saddles, sabres, and other tack. Sir, it looks like they were going to outfit cavalry sir." I turned and looked at the Captain who seemed to have as puzzled look on his face as I did. "Trooper French, why don't you show us these new saddles." I turned to Beth offering my arm, "Ladies would you like to go with us?"

My five lovelies joined the Captain and I as we followed Trooper French to the wagons. When we got there the squad leaders were compiling a list of the wagon's contents and deciding who among their ranks needed the new equipment. Capt. Mills walked up to Maggie, "What all have you found?"

Maggie was excited and it showed, she was like a kid on Christmas day, "Oh Sir! Just look at these new saddles. I just hope the Elders will let me have one of them."

Once again what I saw disturbed me; the saddles in front of me were more like the Whiting modified saddles made between the two world wars. This just did not make sense. Beth saw my distress and whispered in my ear, "Wrong time?" I just nodded my head and muttered under my breath, "Wrong century!"

Before I could get my head wrapped around the saddle problem Two Bears brought me a brass cartridge, "What gun shoots this kind of shell?"

"Oh Shit! Where did that come from?" I knew what it was, I had seen one used in a demonstration but surely the hell there wasn't a Gatling gun. Two Bears led me to a wagon that was loaded with boxes.

"This wagon not made like the others. No hiding place," Two Bears explained to me as I looked at the plain wooden boxes. One was about a foot wide and six feet long so I got Two Bears to help me get the top off of the crate. And there it was, as sure as shit stinks; a Gatling gun.

"Fuck! What's next, M-16's" Something was seriously screwed up or I had been lied to about most of the history that I learned. "Here Two Bears, put the lid back on that box. Where are those drivers? Has anyone got any information out of them?"

Two Bears shook his head "They are tied up over there but they wouldn't answer any questions for Broken Knife earlier, he was going to ask you how hard to press them."

I looked around and didn't see Broken Knife or Two Horses, Capt. Mills came up to me, "What's the matter Tom, you seem upset they're just saddles, pretty fancy I'll admit but still just saddles."

I looked at the man, no there wasn't enough time right now. Right now I needed those drivers to talk and talk a bunch. "Two Bears go find Broken Knife, Red Hawk, Red Hand, and Two Horses, this shit just got deadly serious." Two Bears took off at a run and was back just as quick with the main leaders of our band. "Gentlemen we need to take a little walk. Capt. Mills, would you please join us." We walked out in the middle of the circle away from the group, "Capt. Mills what I am about to tell you right now is something that only a few people know. I need your word of honour that what you hear here you will not repeat."

The five of us stood looking at him awaiting his answer, "It's not something that would make me break the oath I took when I became an officer is it?" I shook my head, "Then you have my word as an officer and a gentleman."

"Capt. Mills, I was born in 1988." I waited for that to sink in, and for the longest time he just stared back at me. "A few months ago I left my home near Azle, Texas in the year 2006 going on a ride, just for fun, before I was to go to Harvard in the fall. Something happened, there was a big storm and when I woke the next morning I was in the year 1847. Don't ask me how it happened because I don't have a clue. I was a history buff, loved everything about the 'old west', those saddles they're a modified McClellan saddle. The first McClellan's were made in 1861 those modifications were made sometime after 1928. Do you see the problem? That crate back there that's a Gatling gun, it fires those .45 caliber bullets as fast as you can turn the crank. It can give two men the firepower of a hundred. It was also first made around 1860. You see, Capt. Mills, in 1860 of my history the United States has a civil war, the north against the south, brother will fight brother, and slavery will be the catalyst." I thought that was more than enough to blow his mind so I stopped there.

"Why is this stuff showing up here?" Capt. Mills asked.

I was shaking my head, "I don't know. In my history all this crap that this governor is doing didn't happen. We need to find out who is sending this stuff. It's already a problem. The Gatling gun didn't see much use during the war, it had too many bugs in it. The war was bloody enough as it was, if these weapons show up it will be even worse."

"There's just one way to find out. Let's go get started before it gets full dark." Broken Knife said then turned and started toward the place where the drivers were tied up.

When we got to the men I looked them over, two of them were pretty salty looking characters but two of them wore glasses and one of those didn't look like he was so tough. I pointed to him, "Get him first."

"You talk and I'll kill you," one of the salty ones yelled.

"No you won't!" I pulled out my pistol and shot the man in the crotch. He was screaming at the top of his lungs so I took out my Bowie knife and cut a big chunk out of his shirt, and accidentally on purpose cutting him in the process and then stuck the wad of dirty and bloody shirt in his mouth, "Now if you haven't bled to death by the time we get around to talking to you we'll see if you have anything to say. Any of the rest of you got any threats? You're all probably going to die but whether you die fast or take a few days, that is what is to be decided right now." We started walking off away from camp with the man we were going to question.

Broken Knife decided to play some mind games with the man, he winked at the Captain and started, "How are you going to do this one Tom? Are you going to slow roast his balls like you did that last one, or are you going to peel all his skin off like that one last month? If you're going to peel him tell me now because I can't stand that much screaming."

"I'll talk! I'll tell you everything I know. I'm just a bookkeeper for the governor, please don't hurt me," the man was crying like a baby.

Broken Knife had his hand covering his mouth to hide the smirk. The Captain was struggling to keep from laughing himself. We listened to the little man talk, and talk he did. As the bookkeeper he knew a lot of things about a lot of things. He also had, hidden in one of the wagons, his books. We decided after hearing his story that his life would be spared. He had been forced to work for the governor after his wife and three kids were taken to Santa Fe and held as hostages. He was being brought to Santa Fe because they had closed up their warehouse in St. Louis. When we were through talking to him Red Hand took him the long way around back to the wagon as the rest of us walked back to the wagon where the other drivers were. As luck would have it one of Two Horses' men was cleaning a buffalo he had killed a little earlier. I stuck my hands inside the ribcage of the buffalo and got blood all over my hands and sprinkled some on my face.

We walked up to the drivers laughing as we made up stories about the gruesome things we had done. Just loud enough so that they could hear us, "Who wants to be next?"

"We didn't hear any screaming," the salty one that I hadn't shot said.

Before I could answer Broken Knife said, "I can't stand all that screaming you white men do. We put a rag in his mouth till he was ready to talk." The salty one swallowed hard, "We may as well just go ahead and kill them, I don't think they'll talk and even if they do, that little one told us probably all we needed before he died. We can stake them out tomorrow when we get ready to leave," Broken Knife finished.

"Please don't kill me. I didn't want to have anything to do with these people but they have my wife and kids just like they had the bookkeeper's." This came from the other man with glasses.

"What did you do for them?" I asked knowing it didn't make sense for to have two bookkeepers.

"I'm a gunsmith, they needed me to put together some of the guns," the man answered.

"Untie him and bring him with us." We started back to where my sweeties were. When we were out of hearing the man told us that the others were planning to escape, Jake the un-shot salty driver had a hidden knife. We thanked the man and Red Hawk went back to take care of the rest of the drivers. We heard the shots a few minutes later. The gunsmith was very surprised to find the bookkeeper eating supper with my wives watching over him.

"I thought you killed him," he looked at me puzzled.

I held up my hands and motioned with my head so one of my wives could bring me some soap and water, "Buffalo blood." I washed my hands with Fran's help looking at Beth, "Sweetie could I get a cup of tea?"

"Sure wash your hands and then sit down, it will just take a minute," Fran brought a bucket of water, a bar of soap, and a towel. After a bit of scrubbing I had all of the buffalo blood cleaned up everywhere save under my fingernails and I'd get that with my pocket knife. I sat down on a crate that was doubling as a chair and watched as Beth poured a cup of tea. So much had happened and as Beth stood up straight, the swelling of her belly with the new life within filled me with ... I don't know, I can't explain it. I always figured that I would get married. They say that guys marry someone like their mother. Thinking of her now makes me so sad; I wouldn't go back to my time without a fight but, god, I miss my mom. Is one or all of my honeys like my mom? As I think about it, I decide that they are, but only in parts.

Sam has my mother's courage, Jana has her love of life, Fran has her humour, boy howdy does she ever have my mother's sense of humour. Prissy has my mother's elegance, and Beth has that sixth sense that my mom had. She always knew when I was hurting and always knew how to make me feel better. I realise now how much I depended on that when I was growing up. Beth handed me my cup of tea and I pulled her into my lap, "I love you Beth and I need you to make me whole."

I felt myself about to tear up when Beth spoke after she had kissed me, "Missing your mom again?"

See what I mean, nailed it on the first try. I was about to start talking about it when the Captain walked up, "I just wanted to say good night and thank the ladies for the excellent supper. My men are asking me if they can transfer into this outfit, they said the food was far better than what they were used to."

Beth started to get up but, I dragged her back to my lap "Good night Captain, I'd get up but this just feels too damn good."

He chuckled lightly, "That's fine Tom, I don't blame you a bit. If I had a pretty lady on my lap I wouldn't get up for anybody. Good night ladies," the Captain said tipping his hat and then turned and walked into the darkness.

Jana laughed, "I know a certain trooper that would love to sit in the Captain's lap."

I smiled and thought a second, "Maggie?" Jana giggled and nodded her head. I started thinking about that and how I'd hate to see Maggie leave the Band. It was sad if you thought about it. One more thing to reflect on I guess.

Beth could see I was getting lost in thought again. "Come on Tom, it's been another long day, let's go to bed and cuddle." I stood up taking Beth with me and carrying her to the wagon where our bedrolls were spread underneath. I sat Beth down and walked to the other side of the wagon to take a pee. After finishing I stripped off and crawled into the centre of five beautiful and naked women.

"Beth said you were missing your mother again," Prissy started, "we wish there was something we could do to help Tom, we love you very much, you know."

"I know you do and, like I told Beth, I love you and you all make me whole." I couldn't say anything else as I was smothered with kisses.

"Is he hard yet? All his sweet talk has got me horny," Jana giggled,

"Sweet talk my eye, air makes you horny Jana and you know it," Fran replied then fastened her lips around my cock and got me nice and wet for her sister.

Jana climbed on as best she could under the wagon and went to work trying to milk me. Jana was replaced by Prissy, followed by Sam after she resurrected me after coating Prissy's pretty pussy. Say that five times fast I dare you. Sam got herself off twice before surrendering the spot to Fran who coaxed a second load from my testicles. Beth claimed the right of cuddle and I went to sleep that night holding her.

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Daylight the next morning brought a smile from my beautiful Beth followed by sentries sounding the alarm as over fifty men on horseback appeared on the hill some five hundred yards from the camp. The Captain got to watch as one whistle started squads into action. In just over three minutes all twenty squads stood ready to fight. It was a full ten minutes later that Capt. Mills command stood ready and some were still not fully dressed and his poor sergeant had passed through every swear word he knew.

Red Hawk, Two Horses, Broken Knife, Red Hand, Capt. Mills and I called for our horses and watched as five of the men from the hill started riding towards us. We mounted up and rode out to meet them. Deep down I had a real bad feeling about this. I couldn't help but wonder what tangent my life would take now.



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Chapter 8



The five men in front of us represented a half a dozen Indian tribes, the former Mexican citizens, the few decent white settlers, and what was left of the United States government. Governor Preston Johns had declared himself King of New Mexico and it was a prudent person who understood that and acted accordingly. Under that definition we were about to become reckless.

Our stopping of the wagon trains and removing the guns and ammunition had slowed the good governor down but by no means stopped him. In a bold move he had captured the army's arsenal and he and his band of brigands ruled Santa Fe with an iron fist. And the stories of rape and torture that they told meant that there would be no waiting till the next full moon.

We sent the men to go get something to eat and while they were eating we called all our people together and told them what we had been told. Once it was explained I called for a vote, "Yes or No, War or Peace?" The response was loud and unanimous; we would ride to war. We had more people back at our base camp so a squad was dispatched to go and get them. If we were going to do this we were going to go in with everything we had.

Captain Mills called his men together and asked them what they wanted to do. When one of his men asked if he would be upset if he suggested that they join the Band, the Captain simply smiled and said he'd see if he could scrounge up some buckskin uniforms.

Twenty one spares were dug out of saddle bags and handed out as were twenty one Henry rifles and forty two .44 revolvers. Capt. Mills walked up to Red Hawk, "We are yours to command sir." He saluted Red Hawk who returned the salute with his fist across his chest as was our custom.

Two Bears had finished going through the wagons and found two small field pieces. When the Captain heard about them he volunteered to take charge of the Band's new mobile artillery unit. Since several of his men had experience with artillery it seemed the smart thing to do.

We were just over one hundred and fifty miles from Santa Fe so we would take our time until the folks from our base camp showed up in two or three days. In the mean time we drilled. At noon and in the evenings we went over the maps and drawings that the fifty men had made. They watched in awe as the plan of attack developed.

On the third day we met with our folks from the base camp and they had a surprise for us. Three other bands had showed up to join with us and the squads that had been left behind had been training them almost day and night. The three bands plus the squads that had been left behind to protect the camp meant that we now fielded over five hundred mounted cavalry. The Governor was holding Santa Fe with fewer than sixty men. The only thing we had to worry about was if he used some of the people as shields and I hoped that by using surprise we could stop him from doing that.

Our approach went about as we had expected, at twenty miles out we put together the two field pieces and Capt. Mills and his men test fired them with impressive results. Although we were sure we had enough fire power we went ahead and put the Gatling gun together and put it through its paces. The gunsmith, Dan Merit, proved to be worth his salt; both in setting up the gun and in cleaning it and getting it back together, ready to go.

We kept a steady supply of people coming into Santa Fe buying supplies and leaving. These people seemed like ordinary folk going about their daily business but, the natives of Santa Fe who were in with us were also supplying them with valuable information. It was one of these ordinary folks that returned to tell us that a celebration commemorating the Governor's birthday would be held the following night. A wagon train loaded with spirits and wine had come in from Saltillo, Mexico through El Paso. Some of the Governor's men had started celebrating as soon as they had got their hands on the liquid cargo.

Squad leaders were called and a quick discussion held; as soon as the decision was made to go ahead the signal was sent. Once they received the signal, our scouts found the men that had been left behind to watch for us and quietly captured them all. Once the watchers had been dealt with we moved out. We arrived at the outskirts of Santa Fe just past four in the morning.

We had half expected the celebration to still be going strong but one of our contacts explained that the hired thugs had started so early that they were all unconscious by ten that night. The thugs were housed in single story adobe house not far from the Governor's residence. With only a front and side door to watch, we sent the Captain and his now buckskin clad men to secure the thugs. They set up their guns aimed directly at the heavy oak doors. Squads were deployed on each and every road leading in and out of the city. By five in the morning the city was ours. At that point squads started rounding up the local citizens who had backed the Governor while I took two squads of our best people and went to the Governor's residence.

The guards were pathetic; without a shout or a shot we entered the large adobe villa, securing it as we went. Fifteen minutes after we went through the gates I was standing in the Governor's bedroom. Tied to the bed was a young girl who looked to be ten or eleven, she was almost the first person all night to raise the alarm. Fran and Sam, who had been sent along with instructions to keep me from doing anything foolish, were able to shush the girl. The ropes tying her to the bed were cut and she was slipped out of the bed. Fran and Sam took her into another room to talk to her and see if she could find some clothes. I pulled out my pocket watch; it was a quarter till six. On the east side of the house the first rays of the morning sun could be seen. Turning to squad leader Two Bears I said, "Send the success signal."

Two Bears walked out on the on the balcony and let loose the loud shrill whistle only to hear it repeated throughout the city. Besides being loud it was out of place and it caused the Governor to stir a bit in his sleep, "I'm tired of listening to him snore when he's been the cause of all of us being up all night. Find me some water let's get the Governor started on his last day in office."

Fran, Sam and the little girl walked into the room as I was making my request, so Fran handed me a partially filled chamber pot. "By the way," Fran began, "the girl says there's a pistol under his pillow." Fran reached under the sleeping man's head and removed the gun.

"That's not enough water to wake him up with the hangover he's going to have." Fran took the thunder mug back from me and set it on the floor. She stood up, undid the tie on her buckskin pants and dropped them right there and started peeing. Sam added her contribution followed by the little girl and the rest of the grinning troopers in and around the room. Fran handed it back, "Better?"

Thinking that I'd rather dilute than wash off, "Hand me that pitcher there by the wash basin," one of the troopers handed it to me and I added a little of the fresh liquid to the contents of the pot, and nodded my head, "That should do it."

The Governor was sleeping on his side, a light push and he was on his back, once there I started pouring the contents of the thunder mug on his face, aiming at his mouth, "Up and at 'em Governor, it's the last day of your life, you don't want to spend it lying in bed."

The Governor came awake coughing and sputtering, "What? That's piss! Who the hell are you?"

"I'm the man that's been intercepting your gun shipments. Now get up and come on; the sun is up on your last day on this earth." The Governor reached under the pillow looking for the gun, "My wife has your pistol if that's what you're looking for. Now come on we need to go wake up your men."

"I need to get dressed!" the Governor cried.

"You're dressed as much as you're going to get. You've got to the count of three to get moving, after that you get hurt and then dragged out of here. One, two," I shook my head as the good Governor just stared at me, "three." I nodded to Two Bears who reached down and grabbed the Governor by the scruff of the neck and stood him up.

"I thought you said that I would get hurt," the Governor mouthed.

"Yeah, I did say that, didn't I," he was standing there like nothing could happen to him. All I had to do was think about all those children, I hit him right on the end of his chin as hard as I could. He went flying backwards and onto the bed. Two Bears offered the man a hand, which he took. Just as he got to his feet Two Bears hit him right in the nose. Two Bears never turned loose of the man's hand; he just pulled back and hit him again.

The Governor jerked his hand trying to free it from Two Bears grip. Two Bears turned the man to face the little girl who he had been too drunk to rape the night before and she hit him as hard as she could, right in the nuts. The Governor fell in a heap on the floor retching. Once on the floor she kicked the prostrate man in the stomach, "That's for raping my sister you bastard. If you hadn't tied me up you would have died in your sleep. It's better this way, everyone in town will get to see you beg before they kill you."

Two Bears walked up to the man, "If I help you up I'm going to hit you." The Governor scrambled to his feet and we went downstairs.

"Gather the prisoners and let's go see if the Captain can wake up the Governor's army." The two squads that had helped take the Governor's house gathered the men that had been on guard duty, their hands tied behind their back. All of the prisoners were roped together and we mounted up and rode to the town square where all of the other prisoners were supposed to be gathered.

Capt. Mills had the two field pieces pointed at the heavy oak doors at the front and side of the building holding the new ex governor's bully boys. "Are all of the innocents out of that building?"

"Yes Sir! Troopers Grey Fox and Becky Damron went in first thing and brought them out. They had to kill one of the men I'm afraid, but he was not able to sound the alarm." Becky was standing at attention near her constant shadow, Grey Fox, and her buckskins had fresh blood on them and her bandana was bloody where she had wiped off her knife. I winked at her and she just beamed.

"If that's the case Captain, go ahead and serve the hangover remedy." I turned my horse and rode a little further away. I heard the whistle call to ready the gun and then BOOM! Followed five seconds later by another BOOM! The Captain's gun crews went into the rush to reload the guns with canister shot this time. "You men in the building you have five seconds to come out with your hands up. If we have to come in, none of you will come out alive."

Capt. Mill's gun crews rolled the guns right up to the doors. When the five seconds were up the gun at the side door fired followed closely by the second gun. "Do we come in and finish it," I called out.

Two men staggered out of the building followed a few minutes later by three more, "Is that all that's left?" One of the men just glared at me, I pointed my pistol at him and shot him in the head. "I asked if that is all of you. If you assholes want to get an attitude, that's just fine by me. If you think I'll feel bad or lose any sleep just remember this; you people are working for a man that condoned the torture and murder of children. The very best you can hope for is me having you shot; the worst is that you get what those children got. Now I want an answer."

"There's ten men in there, they are going to make you pay with your lives," one of the wounded men answered.

"We don't pay that kind of bill mister. Put one of your smoke rounds that you made in there Capt. Mills and move the Gatling gun up to that side door and see if you can air the place out a bit." The gun at the side door fired three more rounds of canister shot into the building, varying the angle they fired at. Two men tried to rush the gun and found the twenty rifles of the two protecting gun squads deadly. The squad that had been exercising with the Gatling gun moved it into place. I gave a nod and they moved the gun into the doorway and started cranking. They put one clip into the building and men were scurrying out the front door like rats from a sinking ship with their hands up. Why the canister shot wasn't bothering them and the Gatling gun did was beyond me but they were out, well, at least all of them that could get out on their own. We found out later that the shot was not spreading enough to do any good. I still didn't trust them so rather than go in after them we posted guards and left them to bleed out, it's not like we were doing any first aid on any that had came out.

I saw the parish Priest and walk over to him, "Father, do you know everyone here that has slaves?"

A rather rakish grin appeared on the Priest's face, "So it's true is it what they say about you, that you hate slavery and you'll be freeing all of the slaves?"

"That's right Father, all slaves will be freed before we leave." The Priest turned and called some young boys to him and whispered something to them and they left like their asses were on fire and their heads a catching.

The Priest turned to me, "There are some that have told me that you will free their slaves over their dead body. How will you handle that young man?"

"If that's their price, I'm sure we can pay it Padre." More and more people were filing into the square, the people who had supported the Governor's power play had all been identified and they were roped together with the Governor and his men. When I thought that we had everybody in the square that was coming I got up into a wagon and addressed the people, "Ladies and Gentlemen, as of right now slavery has been abolished."

There were several shouts and one well dressed man approached the wagon. "You will not be taking my slaves young man."

"Are you one of the ones who said that your slaves would be taken over your dead body?"

"I most certainly am, "the man replied.

"How many more of you feel the same way he does? If you do, move up with him." I waited as about fifteen men joined the man. "This is all?" No one moved, I pulled out my pistol and shot the man right between the eyes, "The rest of you have five seconds to reconsider. One, two,"

"You can't kill all of us," another fancy dressed man complained.

"Turn around and look you stupid bastard. I brought five hundred armed troops with me today we can kill each and every one of you and will, but slavery is ended in Santa Fe. Now your five seconds are up," I started aiming at another of the men when they all went to screaming that they would free their slaves.

Another of the fancy dressed men who had just moments ago been begging for his life screamed out at me, "You can't get away with this. This is still United States territory."

I turned on the little man, "No it's not, you people seceded remember? Your king is over there," I pointed to where the Governor and his men and cronies were tied up, "covered with piss and in his underwear. You gave up your rights when you made him king."

One of the men who had been in the bunch that hadn't wanted to free his slaves pulled a small single shot derringer and fired it at me catching me in the left arm. Two Bears was about to shoot the man when I stopped him. "Take all of these men but him and put them with the Governor's folks, we can't trust them, we may as well execute them when we do the Governor. Be sure and search them. In fact, strip them down to bare skin."

There was much crying and gnashing of teeth, my wives were very upset with the man that had shot me, which made me think. "Will the wives of the men that I just sent over there, and the wives of the two dead ones come up here right now."

The man who shot me mouthed off, "There's only one dead here."

"Your death is just a technicality mister so just shut up." Sam yelled at the man.

I watched as the wives of the men came forward. A very regal looking woman went straight to the front of the line, "That was my husband," she pointed to the man I had just shot.

I got down off of the wagon, I flinched when I did because my arm was hurting like hell, "Look ma'am I'm sorry that I had to kill your husband but I'd do it all over again because these slaves will be free one way or another."

She smiled and I thought it an odd thing, "You had no choice, he hired a man on the way over here to have you killed. Did you know that? He offered him five of the best Indian girls that his men captured and one hundred in gold."

"No, not that it surprises me, but no, I didn't know it. Do you know who it was?" I asked.

She smiled again and turned towards the man that had shot me, "I see. So mister, your convictions come from your cock and your pocket." The man was wearing a sword so I holstered my pistols and undid my belt. Jana was standing there with my doctoring kit so I could fix my arm. Instead I handed her my gun belt and pulled my sword, "Come on. Let's see if you can do a better job of it with your sword. He took a fencing stance and made his first thrust, it was almost like he was going to play with me first. It was plain that he was trying to take advantage of my damaged left arm and, to tell the truth, my arm was killing me. Not to mention it felt as though it had no strength, and I used the two handed Japanese style of fighting. He made another feeble thrust and I knocked his blade away with the backside of my sword and took a cut at his neck. I was too far from him and my arm was too weak to try and sever his head, but cutting through the carotid, jugular, and trachea all at once was more than enough to stop the man. He dropped his sword and put both hands to his throat, he acted like he wanted to say something but with his vocal cords among the damaged and destroyed, he would have to settle for bleeding to death. He finally fell to the ground and the blood really gushed out then. I reached down and pulled a silk handkerchief from his pocket and used it to wipe down my sword, only to have Fran and Sam show up to hand me some paper and a canteen that I used to finish the job.

Beth came rushing over to me. She hadn't heard that I had been shot, but when she had she insisted that something be done about it once she was through with me. She was also none too happy about me getting in the sword fight either. Remember what I said about Beth and my mother? Think about how your Mom would act if you got in a sword fight, especially if you had a bullet hole in your arm. Do that and you know where I was with Beth, and then adding to it the fact she was on the hormone roller coaster from being pregnant, didn't make things any better either.

While I had been having my little drama, the others had gathered all of the slaves together and announced that they were free. For the many Native American people that meant they were free to go and find their families. When the attack had begun we had sent messengers to as many of the local tribes as we could.

Beth had just about got my arm doctored up when the chiefs of four of these tribes came up to me. Red Hawk and Two Horses had sent them over; I would need to thank them later. Their biggest concern, after their people that had been enslaved was what would happen to the Governor and his friends. It took a little to make him understand but I was finally able to explain that there would be a public tribunal and judgement pronounced.

Elizabeth Damron Hand had set up a table and was compiling a list of crimes against the Governor and his followers. It was almost noon now and they were all still roped together in the square with little to nothing on as none had been allowed to dress before we brought them here.

It was just past noon when the Commandant from Las Vegas arrived. He got an attitude real fast and started giving orders and screaming at folks. Since I had had nothing to lessen the pain in my arm this gave me the proper attitude to deal with the man. I walked up as he was calling some of my trooper's less than kind names. I pulled my pistol and stuck it to his forehead. "In the next five seconds your mouth had better close and your attitude had better improve drastically or I'm pulling the trigger on this gun to adjust it myself."

"Capt. Mills do something," the man ordered.

Capt. Mills had already had a belly full of the Commandant and now understood why the Governor had so much power, "Shut up and do as he says because he will shoot you and there's nobody here that will care."

"Now, are you through screaming and bad mouthing my people?" The Commandant nodded his head. "Good, now then, apologise to my troopers."

"What? Why? Why should I?" the Commandant stammered.

"Well I can think of two reasons, first I'll shoot you if you don't and second if I don't shoot you they will. When you insult one of them you insult all of them. There's five hundred of them and one of you. Now what do you want to do?"

"But she was just a girl," the Commandant cried.

I looked over to Capt. Mills. "Trooper Maggie Smith," he answered to my quizzing look.

"She's one of our best, what's your problem with her?"

"She's a woman!" the Commandant exclaimed, looking at me as though I didn't have a brain in my head.

"She's a woman and if she shoots you will you be any less dead than if a man shot you? And I'll tell you right now, if she decides to shoot at you, you're dead, because she doesn't miss, rifle or pistol on foot or horseback, she's a dead shot."

Capt. Mills piped in, "I'd put her squad up against any ten men in the U.S. Army."

"Commandant, now that I have your attention, I plan on leaving Capt. Mills in charge of Santa Fe when we leave."

"But I outrank him. What gives you the right to put him in charge? " the Commandant complained.

"Yes you do, and if you would have done something about the damn Governor then I wouldn't have had to bring my people in and clean up your mess. As far as right, I have five hundred mounted troops. What have you got?" The Commandant's head went down. He knew that he should have done something months ago but he had been afraid of the Governor's political connection. Now the Governor had been dethroned by an eighteen year old and a bunch of women, former slaves, and Indians.

The tribunals were fast and fair, the Governor and his cronies were tried, convicted, and executed. The Commandant's men volunteered to handle the executions for which I thanked them personally; it had been a long hard day. It was a day that I for one was glad to see the sun set on.

My five wives and I were offered rooms in the Governor's house. The girls got together and fixed supper. Although I was surprised by one of the guests that Capt. Mills had invited I probably shouldn't have been. Capt. Mills was apparently falling for Trooper Maggie Smith. I had seen them earlier walking along the shops in the business district. At supper that night Maggie had traded her buckskin uniform for a beautiful dress, as had my lovely wives. The view at supper was very easy on the eyes; the men at the table were all smiling.

We spent a week in Santa Fe and during that week the face of Santa Fe changed a lot. The city's most powerful had all backed the Governor, now those men had lost everything, some even their lives.

Capt. Mills had found three good men and had set them up to run the government of Santa Fe. The Commandant decided to move most of his command to Santa Fe leaving only a small force in Las Vegas (New Mexico) As the week wound down we began to prepare to leave. Many of the slaves had asked about coming with us, and they were made welcome and given jobs to do in our community.

The romance between Capt. Mills and Trooper Smith was in full bloom. I wasn't the only person who felt that we were going to lose a very special person from our group. Maggie was a force to be reckoned with. She was also responsible for much of the spirit that our troops showed. Maggie was a tireless cheerleader for our cause and when I saw the two of them coming towards me on the eve of our returning to our camp I felt a twinge of forthcoming loss.

Maggie's face was absolutely glowing, "Tom, look!" Maggie held her right hand out showing the simple gold band on her finger.

I shook Capt. Mills' hand and pulled Maggie into a hug. I remembered the first time I saw her; she had taken on the responsibility of taking care of her four sisters. Once she had made squad leader she had expanded that responsibility to the nine members of her squad. Maggie had just turned eighteen but in many ways she was far more mature than the girls of that age where I had come from.

As I broke the hug Maggie saw the question on my face, "There's nothing to worry about Tom."

Capt. Mills jumped in, "I've resigned my commission, and you can call me Robert now. The Commandant was not happy about it, but he knows why I'm leaving. In fact he's a little embarrassed about some of the things he said about her that first day."

I pulled Robert into a hug, "Welcome to our Band and congratulations, when do you plan on having your ceremony?"

Maggie was running over with anticipation, "Sunrise tomorrow before we head out, we've already talked to Red Hawk." Maggie saw my wives across the square. She kissed her future husband, "I love you Robert," and then took off to show off the ring.

"You know Robert, that you have gotten me into a mess don't you?"

Robert looked stricken, "What'd I do?"

"That ring is going to cost me five times over." I slapped him on the back and laughed so he knew for sure that I was joking. We decided to walk over to where our wives were holding a hen party when I spotted the Commandant headed towards us about as fast as his legs would carry him.

"Capt. Mills I need to talk to you about something," the Commandant looked flustered. "All of your men but five have asked to be cashiered out of the Army."

"And five didn't want to," Robert looked quite puzzled.

"Well those five's enlistment is up, they asked for all their back pay and gave me notice that they were joining the Band. What Band are they talking about?"

"That would be our group. We call ourselves a Band for no particular reason. Commandant, will there be a problem with the men wanting out of the Army?"

The Commandant stared at me for a minute as though he was considering my question, "Well no, one of the dispatches that you brought me was urging me to get rid of any excess personnel that I could."

Robert smiled, "So wouldn't you say that the men of my former command were excess personnel?"

The Commandant was slowly nodding his head, "Well I guess they would be, if that's the case they'll have pay coming to them. I better go sort that out." The Commandant turned and walked away without saying goodbye, kiss my foot, or anything.

"You ought to post a letter requesting some help for that man."

Robert laughed, "I did that before I wrote my resignation." We both laughed and walked over to our wives.

After joining our ladies we decided to take a stroll around the square. I noticed something that I hoped wouldn't come back to haunt us. Quite a few of the local girls were flirting with our troopers and some of them looked serious. "We better do a through check of the wagons tomorrow before we pull out."

"Oh Tom, you would throw a wet blanket on young love?" Maggie asked.

"I'd just as soon not have any irate fathers show up wanting to kill any of our amorous troopers. Thank you very much." They were all laughing at me, even Robert.

Fran stopped laughing for a second, "Well I know of three of our troopers who were having supper with their new sweeties so the parents could meet them."

We were interrupted by one of the members of the ruling triumvirate Robert had formed and he and Maggie had to go and solve some crisis. We had many of the locals thank us for liberating them. We had been lucky, in the end I had been the only casualty suffered and it wasn't bothering me all that much.

As we made the last turn on the square and started back to where we were spending the night we came upon the doctor's office and I couldn't help thinking about the supplies of his that I had hijacked. I knocked on the door and in a minute a young woman came to the door, "Is the doctor in?"

The woman had a very surprised look on her face, "You know where the doctor is, he's dead."

"Oh, I'm sorry I..."

She interrupted me, "Don't be sorry, he was an animal; some of your people took him away to be tried and executed."

"I didn't sit through any of the tribunals so I didn't know. I guess this leaves you without a doctor?"

"No, not at all. There is a very nice Mexican man that most people, especially the women, go to. My father owns this building; I was just boxing up the doctor's things so that Dr. Duarte could move in here."

Thinking this might be a good way to get some more medical equipment, "What were you going to do with the late doctor's things?"

"Throw them out, I guess. Dr. Duarte said he wanted nothing to do with them as he was afraid it would have a taint," the woman answered.

"May I have them? You see I am sort of our acting medico for our group," I chuckled, "in fact most of what I have now is supplies that had belonged to the doctor here. I basically stole them."

The woman smiled, "That's only fair considering how much the doctor stole from everyone here. I've just about got everything boxed but it's not packed for a trip in a wagon."

"How about if I get some folks in here to do just that, and to load the stuff on the wagon?"

"That would be fine mister... ?" she smiled as my face turned red over my forgotten manners.

"I'm sorry," I took off my hat and did my little cavalier bow, "Tom Dunlap at your service ma'am, and these lovely ladies are my wives, Fran, Sam, Beth, Prissy and last but not least, Jana."

"I'm Clara, Clara Barns. It is a pleasure to meet the man we have all heard so much about." She smiled and looked thoughtful for a second, "And to you ladies, all that I can think to say is that I am very jealous of you all for having such a handsome and brave man."

Beth smiled at the woman and then turned to me, "Why don't you go out on the porch and whistle us up a wagon and some help." I went out on the covered front porch and did just that. In fifteen minutes a squad and an empty wagon showed up. By the time we had everything ready for the trip back to camp we were hot, dirty and tired.

When we got back to our room, we put some water on to heat and started filling the large brass bathtub. An hour and a lot of water later we were all squeaky clean and looking forward to some sweaty sex to cancel the baths.

We made love until we were, well I was, exhausted, but it was the last time for a while that we would be in a room where we could make all the noise we wanted without having them all waiting for us to take a bow the next morning. Not to mention the nice feather bed.

Tomorrow we would head back to camp so we could prepare for winter. Tomorrow we would start on what I for one sincerely hoped would be a more normal life. Normal, now that wouldn't be too much to ask for would it?

We gathered in the square just before sunrise, all five hundred and thirty five of us along with what looked like most of Santa Fe. Red Hawk and the Irish Priest, for reasons only the two of them knew, had formed a brother-like bond and the two of them stood together on the top step leading to the church. Facing them were Robert Mills and Maggie Smith. She was wearing a beautiful white dress that I later learned had been her mother's. When we had sent the squad back to get the rest of our people she had told Annie, one of her younger sisters, to bring her mother's dress as she had met the man she was going to marry and she was very sure she would need it.

Robert and Maggie weren't alone on those steps. It was fast becoming a tradition with us to have a sunrise wedding so there were other couples there with them waiting to be married. Frank Polk, the loner who at one time thought he would never find love, stood between Jenny and Nellie, two of the slave girls we had rescued from Van der Wahl's whorehouse train. Besides the Polk and Mills unions there were twenty other groups there; most were couples but other than the new Polk family there were three other multiple spouse unions. Josh Jones who had just been promoted to Squad Leader was marrying two local girls, twins. I would learn later that the twins' mother was single and had elected to join our group. The twenty two groups getting married also reflected the racial diversity of our Band. There on the steps was every combination of races that was possible from our group. Black, white, brown and red, all friends, all living together trying to better themselves. As we were just finishing the ceremony I wondered what the people of Santa Fe thought about the mixing of races.

I didn't have to wonder long, "It's an abomination! A crime against God himself," the man was screaming. "You can't mix the races; it's against the laws of God and man."

I'll be the first one to admit that I don't know everything there is to know about the Bible. My grandmother firmly believed no one ever would, and as far as I was concerned she knew more than anyone I had ever met, so I felt compelled to question this jerk. "Which law is that? Why don't you show me where it says it's against God's law because it's not one of the Ten Commandments and didn't Jesus tell us to love one another?"

The man changed his course and headed straight for me, "That boy is white and those women are slaves. They can't marry."

"Well you're bad wrong there mister. They are not now, nor will they ever be again, slaves and I'm willing to die to keep them that way. Do you wish to enslave them again?"

"They should be, that is what God put them here for," the man screamed at me.

"Show me in your Bible where it says that." I stared at the man waiting for him to show me. I really wanted to kill this jerk. It will be people like him that will form the KKK after the civil war and murder thousands of innocent people. "Well mouth, are you going to show me or not?"

"Well it ... it doesn't say it right out. You have to know the history behind it. But all people of colour are inferior to the white race."

I smiled. The good Priest looked as though he was about to pop a vein. I motioned for him to come over to us and when he got there I started, "I see then. You don't believe in Jesus?"

"But of course I do, how can you say that?" the man was way upset now.

The Priest shook his head, "Jesus was a Jew from Nazareth; that would make him a man of colour, so according to you, all white people are better than Jesus, the son of the living God. That's what you just said." The Priest was smiling now as the man looked visibly shaken. "If you're going to preach, you read it out of there; don't spread the hate and falsehoods that someone else told you. It says in our Declaration of Independence that 'All men are created equal' it should really go a step further and say that everyone is created equal."

I walked up the steps of the church and turned to face the people in front of me. "There are bad times ahead for this nation because of slavery. Nothing good can ever come from making one person less than another. If you take away the rights of one you make it acceptable for those same rights to be taken from you."

I pointed to the man who had interrupted our ceremony, "How would you like to be pulled from your family shoved into a boat, brought over here and sold like an animal and then beaten if you didn't work hard enough to suit your masters?" I waited for several minutes, "Well?"

"I wouldn't like it," the man's head dropped.

"There are five hundred of us and we are well armed and well trained. None of you could resist us if we decided to enforce our will on you. Look around you, how would you like it if we enslaved you. Moses? Moses Brown where are you?" I heard Moses call out from the side of the crowd, "Come up here a minute Moses." Moses came and walked up the steps and stood beside me, "Moses, would you please take off your shirt and turn around."

Moses took off his shirt and turned you could hear the gasp of the crowd, "What did you do to deserve a whipping that would leave scars like that?"

"I didn't pick all of the cotton that I was supposed to," Moses answered.

"How old were you when that happened?" I asked even though I knew the answer.

"I was six year old, Sir. The cotton sack was bigger than I was. They wouldn't let me bring it to the wagon till it was full but when it was full I couldn't move it." Even after all these years it was plain that that cotton sack was still holding Moses back.

"I'm sorry Moses; I know there's still a lot of pain from your time as a slave. You people want to know what slavery is. That's it, it's pain, humiliation, and it's inhumane. No person deserves to be treated like that. We will be leaving here today, but we may come back and here's the promise that I will make to you. If we come back and find anyone keeping another person as a slave, we will kill the slave owner on the spot, husband and wife. Ladies, if your husband wants a slave you better come and see the Priest here and ask him for a divorce because if you don't, you'll die right beside your husband. Men, the same goes for you." I turned to the Priest, "Would the church go along with that?"

"As long as I'm alive it will," the Priest replied

Red Hawk raised his hand, "Tom we need to get on the trail."

I was about to start giving orders when I saw him. He'd been conspicuously absent until now and sure enough behind him a parade of children followed. "Well if it's not the Pied Piper himself."

"Pied Piper Sir?"

"Yes a character in a story who lured children away from their homes," I replied.

"Oh Sir, then that can't be me, these children have no home unless we give it to them." Tommy's smile said it all; he knew if he could find a waif then we would take care of them,

"Will you need transportation for your new friends?"

"Yes Sir, two or three wagons should do it. Sir!" Tommy looked like he was going to bust.

Turning to the Priest, "Is there a patron saint for orphans?"

The Priest, who had heard of Tommy's past exploits, replied, "Why would they be needing a dead saint when they have a live Tommy Davidson?"

I shook my head, "I don't guess they would, would they?" I whistled for transport and Tommy listened to the returns.

"I'll take care of it sir." Tommy saluted and was off leading his charges to the various wagons.

I shook my head, "Squad leaders, assemble your troops." The whistles started and people started going in every direction. It was a little chaotic but it soon sorted itself out and the order to mount up was given. We were on our way to our home. Temporary though it might be, it was still home.

Squads were sent out on patrol, since we had not been scouting the area we felt it prudent to scout in force. As it turned out very prudent, but it didn't stop us from being hurt. Our first hint that something was wrong was nine troopers coming at us at a horse killing speed.

Two Horses sounded the alarm; the wagons stopped and as the drivers mounted up Tommy's orphans jumped into the seats and started taking the reins. In a few minutes everyone was mounted and headed towards the nine riders as fast as possible.

When the two groups got close the nine riders turned their horses and went back up the low hill they had just come over. Twenty five Pawnee met over five hundred very mad troopers; the look on their face was one of sheer shock. At first they looked for an escape but there was not one to be had. That's when they brought their guns up even though most of their muzzle loading rifles were empty. The sound of several hundred .44 caliber pistols going off was deafening, the results deadly, as horses and riders fell before the hail of bullets. I noticed that the troopers at each end of the strung out line had their rifles out because they knew they would be too far for a pistol shot.

We didn't tarry over the Pawnee but kept on riding until we saw several horses standing near several bodies. There, surrounded by seven dead Pawnee, was Trooper Morgan Jones, the fifteen year old son of Simpson and Margaret. He was badly hurt but still alive when I got to him. His eyes blinked open when I touched him and I watched as his fist came across his chest, "Trooper Jones Sir." He coughed and blood trickled from his mouth, "Sir, did I protect the Band?"

My eyes were filling with tears, "Yes, son you did."

He nodded his head, "Then I did my duty, tell my mom and dad would you." He closed his eyes and exhaled his last breath.

My heart was in two pieces, it was broken because of his death but at the same time I was so proud of him. Red Hand put his hand on my shoulder, I didn't want to turn the boy loose but there were others that needed to grieve.

The trooper who had his rifle came up to me, "He was shot through the back, he said he couldn't feel his legs, he handed me his rifle and turned his horse and charged them with his pistols, his last words to me were 'Protect the Band', that's all that mattered to him."

"He died well, we can all be proud of him," Red Hand looked over at Elizabeth, "the child you carry, we will name it Morgan. It is a powerful name." Red Hand reached down and picked the boy up and carried him to one of the wagons which had finally caught up with us. Red Hand laid him in the wagon and turned to the rest of us, "There is a spring near here; we will put him there, it is a good place for a warrior to rest."

Red Hand had been the first squad leader to lose a trooper. I didn't know it then but his actions today would later become the protocol for laying a trooper to rest. There were lots of tears that day. Mine were but a small part. Everyone cried a little or a lot that day. I hadn't paid much attention to what the date was, my journal not being all that precise, but I asked Beth and she told me that it was the twelfth of August. As I wrote it down a tear fell and caused the ink to run a bit, but then that was what this day would become. Morgan was the first to die protecting the Band, but he would not be the last. By the time that the twelfth of August would come around again others would have died. From this day on though, this day would be known as the 'Day of Tears' and for the people of the Band, it would become like Memorial Day was in my time. In 2006 probably not one teen in a hundred could tell you what Memorial Day was for. I vowed that all of our children would know what the Day of Tears was for and who they had to thank for it.



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Chapter 9

It was a sad five days later when we rode into camp and, although some of the troops had healed a little, there was a job ahead for some of us that no one relished. We rode in and by prior agreement everyone stayed mounted while Red Hand, Two Horses, Red Hawk, and I went to tell the boy's parents.

Red Hand had the boy's buckskins; it was our way of presenting the loved ones with a flag. It was a proud but heart sick Red Hand that handed the folded clothes to Margaret Jones, "I"m sorry to tell you but your son Morgan has died protecting the Band."

Margaret burst into tears and Two Horses signalled for the other three Jones brothers to come forward. Simpson was about to speak but I knew if he did I would never get out what I needed to say so I held my hand up to stop him. With her three living sons surrounding her I told her of her son's sacrifice and it helped me to see that Simpson was as proud of his son as I was. In my time it was not rare for a parent to bury a child, but it was not as common as it was in this time. That didn't make it any easier. There would always be a hole in our lives because of Morgan. At the same time if not for him there might have been other holes in our lives.

We spent a few days at the old camp, but because of our numbers and where we were, game was starting to get scarce. A decision was made to move to another campsite; we loaded up and left on what Two Horses said would be about a two week journey.

We had been on the trail two days when one of our patrols was flagged down. It was our old friend Milt Thorp. He had taken the gold we had paid for the saddles and tack and bought us a large amount of supplies. It was near the end of the day and we were near a small creek so we stopped and waited for Milt's men to catch up.

That night we camped with Milt and his men. He was able to catch us up on some of the news. Winfield Scott's troops should have invaded Mexico by now but little had been heard about the war with Mexico. Among Milt's drivers were some of the first of the Irish immigrants fleeing the Potato Famine. Seth O'Donnell and his wife and two sons and daughters had gotten work hauling freight to St. Louis. There Milt had stopped some of the town bullies from killing the youngest boy.

The man that had hired Mr. O'Donnell and his family to haul the freight had cheated them out of their pay. Milt told them of our Band and the rest was history as they say. Milt's only regret was that he had gotten very attached to the O'Donnell ladies cooking. We spent the evening talking about our plans and Milt's. He was ready to go to Oregon with us so we began to make plans.

Milt was going to return to St. Louis and get all the supplies that we could afford. We had already gathered over two hundred wild cattle and one hundred horses; our horse herd was already huge and required two squads to be off herding and guarding it at any one time.

Milt would also get all of the cattle, mules, and oxen that he could get. He also expected to have other settlers want to come with him. We reminded him that he would need to tell them about the make up of our group and that racial prejudice was not tolerated. Tommy made sure that he also knew that any and all orphans were welcome. We all laughed; the Pied Piper strikes again.

After the supper conversation had died out my ladies and I took a stroll ending up by the creek where we sat, talked, and kissed until well past midnight. Beth started yawning so we got up and headed for our bed.

It was around three in the morning when it happened. I sat straight up in bed and listened, and nothing, I got out of bed; something was wrong. One of the pickets was nearby but he had neither heard nor seen anything out of place. Way off to the south of us I could see lightning in a cloud top very far away, but I could not shake the feeling that something had happened. I just didn't know what it was. The rest of the night was spent tossing and turning. After over an hour I got up and stirred the fire back to life and put some water on for tea.

I was sitting on rock deep in thought when Beth put her hand on my shoulder, "What's the matter my husband?"

"I don't know. Something is wrong. No that's not it; something happened a little bit ago and I don't know how I know that but I just do."

"Is it a bad thing?" Beth asked as she wrapped her arms around me.

"I don't know sweetie," I shook my head, "I just don't know."

That's the way we were thirty minutes later, me worried and Beth trying to comfort me when Broken Knife and Red Hawk walked up. "You too?" I asked.

Red Hawk nodded his head, "About an hour ago." Broken Knife nodded his head in agreement.

"What was it?" I wondered if they were as confused about it as I was.

Broken Knife shook his head, "The last time I had that feeling was the night you came."

My head snapped up to meet my friends, "You don't think?" I left the rest unsaid as I got up and went to get Jack. I started to saddle Jack and get him ready to go.

"Tom stay here, there is no need for you to go," Broken Knife said to me. I started to protest but Broken Knife stopped me, "Two Bears should be close to the place where you were when you travelled here. He would have felt the same thing we did, he'll check it out."

I knew he was right but it didn't stop the feeling that something major had happened and I didn't know if it was good or bad.

I was too keyed up to eat breakfast that morning and that, added to the fact Red Hawk had decided that we would camp here another night or two, had me as nervous as a whore in church. It was one of the longest days of my life.

By bedtime my wives had had more than enough. I was sitting drinking a cup of tea when they ordered me into bed. Once they had me naked they proceeded to fuck my brains out. All five women were intent that they not only be serviced but that each wanted me to cum in them. I didn't think I could do that five times but I was wrong. It did take all night though and when the first rays of the morning sun started filtering through clouds I was just going to sleep.

Camp was very quiet that morning so I was allowed to sleep, but sleep turned out to be worse than being awake. Asleep I dreamed, dreamed of my mother, my mother that was calling out to me. After what seemed like hours of dreams I sat bolt up right and called back to her and suddenly I knew what had happened.

I threw on my clothes as fast as I could. At the time only Fran and Jana were in camp and a worried Fran sent Jana to find the rest. I was getting ready to saddle Jack when the call of "riders coming" rang out. I was nervous as I could be, "What is going on, Tom?" Beth begged.

I ran to her and scooped her up in my arms, "It's my mother, she's here." Beth's face was a mask of confusion, "Come on, let's go meet her." I grabbed my wives hands and we started running towards the other side of camp. We could see the riders now. They were loping toward us.

My face must have told it all, "Tom who is that with them? Do you know her?" Red Hawk asked.

I turned to him, "It's my mother." I turned back to watch as my mom's auburn hair flew out behind her.

"Tom, she looks so young!" Fran exclaimed.

I smiled, "I was kinda an accident, my father is ten years older than my Mom; he was almost arrested because my Mom was underage. She got pregnant at fourteen so you see she's only thirty two." I turned from talking to Fran; my Mom was close enough now that our eyes met. As soon as she saw me she screamed and spurred her horse into a dead run. As she got closer I could see the tears, she slid her horse to stop and launched herself at me. We hit so hard we both knocked some of the wind out of each other and almost fell to the ground.

"Oh Mom! I thought I would never see you again." She held me as though one of us would be jerked away any second. After maybe five minutes she stepped back and wiped the tears from her eyes and held me at arms length.

"Let me look at you. Two Bears said you had been shot, he also said..." Mom then looked at the five women behind me.

"Mom, I'd like for you to meet my wives. This is Beth she'll be making you a grandmother in the spring." They hugged and kissed each other on the cheek, "This is Fran and her sister Jana." They hugged and kissed, by now the tears were really starting to flow, "and this is Little Bird, but we call her Sam, and the one that looks like she's about to pounce is Pricilla."

"Please call me Prissy, everyone else does."

Mom laughed but hugged and kissed her, "I know, Mom, but it doesn't mean the same thing during this time."

"Oh Tom they are all so lovely. Two Bears? Mom turned to find him.

"He's probably gone to find his two wives," I replied.

"Oh well. Anyway, he told me about everything. Oh Tom this must be like a dream come true for you." I watched as a cloud came over my mother's face, "Your father was so angry when he found out you were gone. And when it came time for summer school to start and no one could get a hold of you he went crazy, he even hit me. I called the police and he was arrested for domestic violence which made him even more furious with me. I knew something had happened to you when you didn't call. I tried to have your phone traced but it didn't show up on any cell towers. So last week, after the DPS and every Sheriff's office in Texas gave up looking for you, I started looking. I finally found a man that had seen you leading your horse off the highway toward this overhang. It was like I could feel you there but you weren't there. I started crying I was so afraid I would never see you again." Mom wrapped her arms around me and sobbed, my wives all stepped forward and put their hands on her, giving some of their love to her trying to comfort her. "I fell asleep crying for you, I woke up during this really bad storm. I looked out into the storm one minute; my pickup was there pulled off the side of the road before I went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning it was gone and I felt really sick. I had just finished throwing up when Two Bears rode up. At first I was so frightened then he looked at me and in almost perfect English said 'Would you be Tom's mother?' It took so long to get here but he told me all about you and all the things you have done. Oh Tom! I'm so proud of you." Mom kissed me on the cheek.

"Are you hungry Mrs. Dunlap?" Beth asked, "We just about had lunch ready when you rode up."

"Call me Millie, and yes, I'm starved, all we had on the way here was some jerky. Two Bears seemed to be in a big hurry to get me here."

We walked back over to where most of our group was already eating and walked through the line. Since Milt's arrival there had been an increase in the variety of the dishes served in the chow lines. Normal supper was usually the three b's: beans, buffalo, and biscuits in one form or another. With the goodies that Milt brought added in, all kinds of preserved vegetables had shown up, not to mention potatoes. Lots and lots of potatoes. Fried, baked, mashed or boiled, they were nice for something different.

Mom sat down with my wives and dug into her plate with gusto and not much was said while we were eating. But after Mom finished off her last bite of cobbler and set her plate aside she turned to me, "Your Dad left me. He was convinced that you and I schemed to keep you from going to school and fulfilling his plan."

"It's all right Mom, his plan was going to fail anyway but it had no real chance once I got sent back here." I sighed, "I like it here Mom, I have five wonderful women that love me, I'm going to be a Dad, and I'm never going to make my son go and do something or be something he's not."

Mom smiled and put her hand on my face, "You'll be a good father." Beth walked over and took our plates and as she was walking away Mom asked, "What is it about your wives that makes me feel so good?"

I smiled, "Come on let's go for a walk and I'll tell you." We got up and I took my Mom's hand in mine. "The girls are all like you in some way. Each of them has a something about them that is just like you. Fran has your humour, Prissy your elegance, Sam your courage, Jana your love of life," I paused for a second to collect my thoughts.

"And Beth, what does she have?" my mother asked.

A big smile came to my face, "Beth always knows when I'm bothered by something and is always right there with a cup of tea, a kind word, or to just listen to me as I unload." I stopped and wrapped my arms around my Mother, "Oh Mom, I'm so glad you're here, with you here it makes all this perfect." We were walking back to Beth's wagon when I heard the whistles for officers call, "Mom, I have to go."

"Go! We can take care of your Mom easy enough," Beth said.

I kissed my wives and my Mom and went to see what was going on.

As our Band had grown so had the leadership council; five of the groups that had leaders that were a lot less than what the group really needed. I was so used to power struggles and empire building that it was a complete surprise to me to see some of these men step down and defer to others and let the right person step up and lead. In some of these groups the former leader just wanted to step down and allow someone else have the headache, in others it was a case of needing people with a different attitude and skill set. In the end it seemed the right person gravitated to the right job and the governing council, sometimes called the Elders, was a group of seven men and two women.

Red Hawk was elected the leader with Two Horses the second in command. A young warrior named Stands Tall was in charge of the horses, Jase Trammel was in charge of the cattle, and Marie, one of Broken Knife's wives was in charge of the supplies. Elizabeth, the wife of Red Hand, was put in charge of getting our meals together, Moses Brown was in charge of the wagons and the draft animals, Broken Knife and I were in charge of our military. Each person had their own group of people that reported to them so it was representative government at its very basic form. One of the first things to come out of the ruling council had a very large effect on only the Comanche.

Stands Tall had suggested in our first meetings that the Comanche anglicise their names by using the last half of their names and their surname. Thus Marie Van der Wahl who had married Broken Knife became Marie Knife, Elizabeth Damron had married Red Hand so she would become Elizabeth Hand. The first thing that this forced was it necessitated having family trees drawn up. When Stands Tall saw the sheets of paper with all the names written on it he realised another thing that was missing. In our second meeting he asked if he, and any others that wanted, could be taught to read and write. From there it grew that Comanche was a spoken language but not written. Lucy thought it important that the language be preserved so on to the list of things we would need were added schools supplies. Lucy would have Milt try to get journals that Lucy and others could make into readers and grammars for both English and the Shoshoni language that the Comanche spoke.

I had just walked up to the shade tree where today's council was to be held when I noticed that Milt was there but Red Hawk wasn't. "Where's Red Hawk?" I asked.

Stands Tall pointed behind me and when I turned around I had to smile. Red Hawk had evidently stopped by my camp and now had my mother on his arm escorting to our meeting.

Red Hawk was smiling to beat the band, "Friends, I would like to introduce Millie Dunlap, Tom's mother. She has joined us and I thought she would like to see how we govern ourselves."

Mother sat down next to me while, for over an hour, Milt explained how it would be beneficial for us to move north and eastward so that we would be in a position where we could start for Oregon in late February or early March. The Pawnee now saw the Santa Fe and the Oregon Trails as a way for them to better themselves. At the end of the season last year they were demanding payment for safe passage. Milt felt that if our group moved into the area just west of St. Jo we would put pressure on the Pawnee to move further north. We listened to Milt for over an hour as he made his case; for myself I saw just one problem. What were the locals going to think when five hundred plus moved in and most of them Comanche? I listened to Milt and the others as they discussed the pluses and minuses of the move. I hadn't said anything yet; mostly I'd just been listening and organizing my thoughts.

Finally Red Hawk looked at me, "Well Tom, what do you think?"

I sighed, took a deep breath and started, "We need to brand every head of livestock we have. There will be enough animosity towards us that we will have to be on the ball every minute of every day. We have a lot of our people who are in mixed race marriages and then there are those, like me, that are not only in a mixed race marriage but a plural one as well. We are not going to blend into the background, in fact we are going to stand out like a diamond in a goat's ass. No amount of good that we can do will be able to overcome the bigots and small minded people. This means we will need to be a good ways away from the general population. Also if we do go there you all need to realise that it is going to be colder. Other than the people and the weather I don't see a problem."

Red Hawk turned to Milt, "Do you think that we could have trouble with the people near there?"

Milt smiled, "Well you could ride into the nearest town in force dragging those two field pieces and that Gatling gun and then explain to them just how bad an idea it would be for anyone to mess with any of your people."

It took a few minutes but eventually we were all laughing. The more I thought about it the funnier it got. "You know Milt that just might be what we need to do. That should take care of even the really stupid individuals. But let me ask you this: people will find out who we are and what we can do. Aren't we going to be swamped with people wanting to go west thinking they would be safer travelling under our protection?"

Milt rubbed his fingers through his beard, "We should be able to be real picky about who we choose."

Elizabeth looked back and forth at each of us there at the meeting, "What about Moses and the other former slaves, they're not going to be in danger of being enslaved again are they?"

"Well technically Lucy, Marie, and Prissy still hold many of their papers so if any redneck peckerwoods showed up and tried anything we'd have the legal high ground. If that don't work there's always five hundred rifles," I said winking at Milt.

In the end we decided to tell our people that we should go, but with any decision this big it was put before the people that night after supper.

There really wasn't much in question, we knew that we needed to be on the main trail and cutting across country was never going to happen. Taking the direct line going due north from where we were in the panhandle area of Texas couldn't be done. There simply weren't the watering holes to get there without losing most if not all of our livestock. That's the funny thing about the plains; there's an ocean of water under ground, the Ogallala aquifer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer] was used to irrigate the wheat, corn and milo in fields that stretch from Texas to southern South Dakota. Our problem with that was that in some places it's a hundred feet deep and there are others where it's over four hundred. Needless to say you wouldn't want to grab your shovel and dig a four hundred foot deep hole to water your horse.

The next morning at dawn three squads of our best started out towards Missouri. The three squads were spread out but basically within sight or a shot. For two weeks we rolled along day after day at an easy pace. The only time we ever picked up the pace was to make a particular waterhole or camp site. We saw a few Pawnee and even one small band of Arapaho that were way out of their normal range, but the only trouble we had, had been from some Comanche.

Iron Shirt was the leader of one of the three bands that we had turned away. Today made the third time that he or members of his band had attacked. This time Elizabeth Hand was shot in the leg. We just about had to sedate Red Hand; I finally gave up and gave him a valium just so I could treat Elizabeth.

She had been lucky, really; the bullet didn't hit a bone or an artery. The dress she was wearing was one of her older ones and it tore such that none of the dress was carried into the wound track. I cleaned the wound, stitched her up, and gave her a shot of combiotic. Once again dreading the day when I ran out of the precious liquid.

Besides pissing off Red Hand, today's attack used up the last reservation Red Hawk had on attacking Iron Shirt's band. Red Hawk had a good idea where Iron Shirt's band would be encamped and told Broken Knife and I to plan the attack.

Early that next morning five of our troopers, mounted on our fastest horses, stopped on the hill above Iron Shirt's camp. After calling Iron Shirt a few names he came out of his tepee. When he and his best man came out the five riders all fired at the two men aiming to kill the best man which they did but intentionally missing Iron Shirt. Iron Shirt got his name from the old Spanish breast plate that he wore. He had had several close calls and he thought that the armour meant that he couldn't be killed.

Killing his best man had the desired effect, Iron Shirt started screaming at his warriors and soon they were mounting up and coming after our five troopers. The troopers lit out and behind them Iron Shirt and his men were riding and screaming as hard as they could. Iron Shirt chased our trooper right into the trap that we had set. It sounded like one shot but Iron Shirt and twenty one of his warriors lay on the ground; the five troopers along with others started gathering the now rider-less horses.

The rest of us mounted up, Moses and two of his men, Samuel and Thomas Beech, drove wagons towards Iron Shirt's camp. When we got there Red Hawk was sorry that Iron Shirt had died so easy. The reason that Red Hawk had turned Iron Shirt's band away was because of the way they treated their women. Iron Shirt and his men had been given, or had stolen, several crock jugs full of whiskey, besides getting drunk they got mean. Almost every woman in the camp was sporting at least a black eye, two had broken arms, and a half dozen or so with bruised or broken ribs and one I was pretty sure had a broken jaw. Along with the injuries suffered by the women there were half a dozen kids with injuries and we found out that one thirteen year old boy had died from the beating he had received trying to protect his mother.

I did what first aid I could, most of my doctoring kit was back at the wagons. Within two hours we had taken down all of the tepees and packed them away in the wagons. Just before we were about to load up and leave the women huddled together for a few minutes. After their discussion one of the women, Iron Shirt's former wife approached Red Hawk. She asked if they might be able to see the bodies of their former mates. We loaded them up and went back to the ambush site. There the women showed how they felt and the complete absence of tears said a lot about how they had been treated. Each of the bodies was mutilated. I watched as they tried to cut Iron Shirt's head off, I pulled out my sword and severed the man's head from his body.

Iron Shirt's former wife looked up at me and pointed to the three bullet holes in his breast plate, "His shirt did not have enough magic to stop the bullets of the great White Bear and his many buckskin warriors."

"No," I shook my head, "it sure didn't. You can call me Tom. What is your name?"

She smiled at me, her face battered and bruised, "My mother named me Doli, she was Navajo, it means Bluebird so Bluebird is what they called me."

"Well Doli, let's get loaded back up and get to our camp, there are still some of your friends that need medical help."

She smiled when I used her old name and then she got the other women to get into the wagons. Samuel was sitting on the wagon seat with a very cute little girl, in spite of her black eye and split lip. On his other side sat the girl's mother, and when Samuel took off his hat to wipe his brow the woman saw his hair for the first time.

Samuel's Comanche was still a little rough but when the woman reached up and touched his hair he understood her when she said, "Buffalo?"

Samuel's bright smile and laughter made the woman smile and relax. Over the next six hours that it took to get back to our camp two things happened. Samuel's Comanche got a lot better, and Samuel and Willow fell in love. When we got back to the camp Samuel asked Isaiah to take care of his team so he could help Willow and her daughter get settled. There was some good natured kidding going on but everyone was happy that Samuel had found someone. The little girl's name was one she did not like and when Samuel asked if he could call her Sally after his mother all she could do was smile.

I guess it's hard to mourn for someone who beats the hell out of you whether he's drunk or not, and that's how it was with Willow. That evening in camp she and Samuel spent every waking second together. Samuel did send someone to ask if I could check the little girl out because he thought something was wrong with her arm.

Beth, Jana and I walked up to the wagon where Samuel had fixed a lean to for them to sleep under. The little girl's hand was swollen and she couldn't move the fingers on that hand. I looked at it for a long time pushing and prodding at different points. I was pretty sure that she had one or more broken bones in her little hand, "Beth, can you go and bring one of my old socks, the plaster of Paris, two rolls of that four inch gauze, and a bunch of cotton rags?"

Beth nodded and went to get the things I needed. I looked over to Willow; Samuel had his arm around her trying to comfort her, "I think she has some broken bones in her hand. With little kids they're likely to injure it worse playing so I'm going to put something on it to protect it until it heals."

Beth, Prissy, Fran, Sam, and my mother returned with all of the stuff that I had asked for plus a large bowl to mix the plaster in that I had forgotten. "Thank you my lovely wives." With a little work I made the sock into something that would keep the plaster from being directly on her skin. An hour later little Sally had a nice white cast on her hand and forearm.

When it was finished I took a pencil out of my bag and signed my name on her cast. It didn't mean that much to her but as each of the girls asked her if they could sign it, it fast turned into a thrill for her to see who she could get to sign her cast. When she handed the pencil to Samuel I saw the sad look on his face and knew that he, like most slaves, couldn't write his own name, "Samuel I saw you drawing something on the back of the wagon, why don't you draw her a picture on her cast?"

Samuel smiled at me and nodded his head; he sat with the little girl in his lap while he drew a small bird on her cast. I left to go and finish doctoring up the rest of the people we had rescued from Iron Shirt. As it turned out some of the people from Iron Shirt's camp were in pretty bad shape. Since we weren't on any kind of schedule we took a few days off from travelling so those more badly injured folks could heal up.

We stayed three days; Moses and his men worked on Milt's wagons and got them up to the same condition as ours. Milt was amazed at the work that Moses and his crew turned out. The change was amazing, once they were slaves assigned a job and beaten for their mistakes. Now they were assigned a responsibility, if they made a mistake nothing would be said, but a mistake would be very rare indeed. Moses and his small group of men had taken an unbelievable pride in their duty. For me it was interesting to see what the praise that Milt gave them did. Everything they did, they did it like their name was on it. Milt insisted on paying them even though they refused to accept it. Moses came to me upset about it. Since he felt like Milt was a part of the Band he didn't feel right taking the money. I finally convinced him to take the money and then give it Marie Knife. Marie told me later that Moses had brought twenty dollars in gold to her and told her it was for the Band.

When we were talking about it later Mom said that the Band was allowing the former slaves to belong. They were no longer property to be used and abused at will, now they were equal members of a group of human beings. And that sense of belonging was making the former slaves bloom.

The former slaves weren't the only ones blooming. I noticed not long after Morgan's death that many of the teenagers were forming family groups and for the older teens I guess that's not all that big of a deal, but the younger ones were the ones surprising me the most.

Leading this group was none other than the Pied Piper himself. Tommy had somehow managed to collect five young girls. The oldest of them was Cindy, a redheaded beauty of fourteen; she was one of the girls rescued from Van der Wahl's whorehouse project. Cindy never knew her own parents and basically had no last name. Two more girls that had been on that same wagon train had also taken up with Tommy. Velma and Vonda, both former slaves, were twelve years old, which was actually younger than Tommy since he'd had a birthday the week before we rescued the girls. The last two girls to join Tommy's harem were two of the girls from Santa Fe. Anita thought she was about thirteen and Maria, her sister, was twelve. These six, plus Tommy's little sister and four year old Grace, called Tommy's wagon home.

Each time Tommy had found orphans he had made sure they had a place among the many wagons we had. It was obvious that he had a knack for organization because there were never any problems with who and where the kids ended up. Santa Fe, though, had been his biggest challenge. I'm not sure how he found these kids but as soon as his squad leader had released him to hunt for orphans he had disappeared and was not seen for two days. Little Amy had stayed with Elizabeth Hand while Tommy did his thing. All I know for sure is when he did show up he had twenty eight kids with him, they ranged in age from seventeen down to four.

The older teens teased Tommy, and told whopping stories of how Tommy could ride into a town and smell the air and he'd know how many and where any orphans were. Yeah, they teased him a lot but there were about fifty teens that would swear he could do no wrong, and would charge a buffalo stampede to help him. Come to think of it I guess you could put me in that group.

Tommy surprised me one night, I was sitting around the campfire with my wives when he walked up and asked if he could talk. I invited him to sit down and talk. Beth asked him if this was a man talk and did they need to leave.

Tommy said, "No, I would like to hear what Beth and the other women think." We all watched as Tommy tried to collect his thoughts. "Tom," he started, "how did you know when you were in love with your wives?"

I smiled as I thought back, "I knew as soon as I kissed them, Tommy."

Tommy nodded his head and seemed to be deep in thought, "Is it all right to love someone if they are different from you?"

"Are you talking about Velma and Vonda?" Tommy nodded his head, "Did some one tell you it was wrong?"

"Tom, I can't help it. Velma and Vonda are, well they're special. A lady in Santa Fe saw me kiss them, she told me I would go to hell for it."

I could see the tears in Tommy's eyes and I was mad as hell that someone would tell a kid something like that. "Tommy, that lady didn't know what she was talking about. If you love those girls, that's between you and them, it's no one else's business. Do you love Cindy, and Anita? What about little Maria?"

"I love them too, all of them, is that wrong?"

"I don't know Tommy, it doesn't feel wrong to me, I can't imagine not loving any of my wives."

"You don't think I'm too young?"

I thought back to the time that I came from and imagined what would have happened if this had happened there, "No Tommy, I don't think you're too young. You've had to grow up pretty fast. You're what, thirteen now?" Tommy nodded his head. I suspected he didn't trust his voice, "You've killed men in battle, you've stopped a monster from getting your sister. Back where I come from there were men thirty and forty years old that haven't done what you've done. You're a man Tommy and I'll fight anybody that says you're not."

I watched as a smile came to his face, "Tom, do you think Red Hawk would marry me and my ladies?"

"You don't think little Maria might be a little young?"

"We've talked about it Tom. We know I can't do anything that might cause her to have a baby; and Anita, Velma and Vonda, they want to wait to have babies too, but they want to get married now."

"Well Tommy it sounds like to me that the six of you have worked this out between you. Do you want me to go with you to talk to Red Hawk?"

Tommy thought a second or two, "No, but could I ask you some other things man to man, and Velma and Cindy wanted me to ask your wives if they could ask them some questions."

My wives got up and walked over to Tommy's wagon. Tommy and I talked about the birds and the bees. Tommy left before my girls got back; he was headed to see Red Hawk about getting married.

How different this time is, a thirteen year old boy and he's been out on his own for over a year. And he's not alone; I don't even know how many teenagers are in this Band that are carrying the load of an adult. Then there's Morgan, he'll forever be fifteen because he valued the lives of his squad more than his own. I think the people of my time are doing a great disservice to teens by treating them like children.

When the girls returned they were wound up tight, it took me an hour to appease them and I was sure we would be up for another standing ovation from our neighbours.

The next morning Red Hawk married the Pied Piper and his five ladies. Standing with them was Amy, Tommy's sister and little Grace, the four year old Tommy found in Santa Fe. After the wedding we loaded up and headed east. We stopped around four in the afternoon at a spring that was quite a ways off the main trail. That night we listened to the squeals and giggles coming from Tommy's wagon. It sounded like we might have to give him a standing ovation.



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Chapter 10

In my time we could have driven to our destination in hours in an automobile, but with mules and wagons it is considerably slower. It will take months to get to Missouri. Funny thing about slowing down from seventy to three or four miles an hour, it really changes ones perspective, thirty minutes in a car, a day in a wagon. I have always used my time while on horseback to think. Now with wives and responsibilities it was time to talk and plan.

Today Mom and I were riding out front talking. I guess I never realised how much my Dad held my Mom back when I was at home. In the past weeks since she had joined us I had watched her bloom. Today she wanted to talk to me about a decision she had made. "Tom would it bother you if I married again?"

"Has Red Hand asked?" I watched as my mother blushed, "Mom I've seen you with him and Elizabeth. You all look so happy, what's holding you back?"

"You," she looked down using her hair to hide her face, "Red Hand is afraid it would upset you if he asked for my hand. He has so much respect for you he would never do anything to risk that."

I didn't have anything to think about really, I loved my mother and nothing was as important as her happiness, "I'd be honoured to call Red Hand father."

"Oh you! I hadn't thought of that," Mom started laughing, "I have to go tell him." She leaned across and kissed my cheek and then with a hoop and a holler she spun and spurred her horse headed back to Elizabeth's wagon.

My wives had been holding back a ways while my Mom and I talked. When they saw Mom take off towards the wagons they rode up beside me, "What was that all about?" Jana asked.

"Red Hand is about to be my step Dad."

"What's a step Dad," Jana asked.

I hadn't thought about that, divorces just didn't happen much in this time, abandonment, now that was a different story. So I took the time to explain to my wives how where I came from it was common to dump a mate sometimes for no reason at all. They were sure I was lying to them when I told them that over half of all marriages ended in divorce.

Sam was the first to see the rider, "Tom look!"

As soon as I saw him I turned in the saddle and whistled the alert and watched as troopers piled off wagons and started mounting up and forming squads. The younger kids that didn't normally drive teams scrambled to take over for troopers. I kissed my wives and they went and took their place in their squads. Two Horses whistled troopers to the front. Two Horses, Red Hawk, Milt and I rode forward to meet the scouts.

Maggie, now Mills, rode up and saluted, "It's a wagon train Sirs and there's twenty wagons that look like the ones with the hidden compartments."

"Are there any guards?" Red Hawk asked.

"Yes Sir! Every one of the suspect wagons has a driver and a man with a rifle or shotgun."

"I don't like this Red Hawk. Maggie, what's the terrain like?"

"It's just about like this, flat as a table then it slopes off into sort of a valley, it also slopes off on both flanks. They are coming up the slope out of the valley now. And Sir, I took the liberty of contacting the squads on the left and right flanks. They, along with my squad with my second in command, are going to set up behind them."

I had to smile, "Good work Maggie, stay by my side."

Red Hawk looked back and forth between me and Two Horses then finally made up his mind, "Let's unload the field pieces and the Gatling gun. While we're doing that let's get some people on their flanks."

Two Horses whistled up Broken Knife, Robert Mills, and Red Hand. When they got there, "Each of you take ten squads. Red Hand you take the left flank, Broken Knife the right. This is a point, it slopes off on both sides so you should be able to be get set up out of sight." They saluted Two Horses, spun their horses, and raced back to their troops. Two Horses turned to Robert, "Get your guns out of their wagons and on their field carriages ready to move, load one with canister and put ball in the other." Robert saluted, spun his horse, and raced back to get the guns.

Broken Knife and Red Hand were already out of sight, Robert had the guns out, and the three troops under his command were ready to move out. Red Hawk signalled for the advance. Five miles down the trail we met the other wagon train. I wondered what they were thinking. Red Hawk had put the three hundred plus troopers behind us to form up ten squads wide and then stack up behind each other.

A new feature to the squads was the flags. Each squad had a flag and each flag was different. Milt had brought a dozen bolts of cloth and the girls had done themselves proud. Now the wagon before us stopped with three hundred mounted cavalry in front of them. Red Hawk let them sit there for ten minutes then we watched as two men started to ride toward us. Red Hawk smiled, "Bring up the guns. Signal Broken Knife and Red Hand to advance into sight."

With practiced ease squads parted on both sides and in the centre as the two field pieces came flying through crossing in front of the lines so the enemy could see what they were. The Gatling gun set up between them and as if that wasn't enough to rattle them Broken Knife and Red Hand suddenly pop up with one hundred troops on each of their flanks.

The two men had stopped in their tracks they now returned to the wagons and made a white flag and started back toward us. We heard a bunch of yelling coming from the wagons in front of us.

Broken Knife signalled that the scouting squads had popped up in their rear. Red Hawk laughed, "Tom, what is it you like to say at a time like this?"

"Oh, yeah, sucks to them."

Red Hawk leaned to where he could see Maggie, "Trooper Mills can you put a white streamer on the Band colours?"

"Yes Sir!" Maggie rode over to the trooper who had the colours. They tied a white streamer on the top and then Maggie took the red, black, yellow, brown and white hands clasped in the centre of the blue flag. This was the flag that represented the unity of four races and a fifth that would come. Then she rode back to Red Hawk.

"Ready Sir!" Maggie winked at her husband as he readied the cannons.

"Let's go!" Red Hawk exclaimed and out we rode to meet the two men.

"What the hell do you mean stopping us like this," the man on the right screamed out.

Red Hawk stopped and raised his hand. The three hundred troops behind us moved into line abreast and drew their rifles, as did the troops on both flanks.

"Your attitude better change real fast mister or this will be your last day." I was also watching the two men on the first wagon, "And if your men fire at us," I nodded toward the first wagon, "we'll have killed every one of you before we hit the ground."

The man on the left turned to the angry one, "Ride back there and tell those idiots to put their guns down." He turned back to us, "What is it that you want?"

I looked over at Red Hawk and he nodded, "We want to inspect some of your wagons."

"And if we won't allow it?" the man asked.

"Then we search them after we kill you." I said as coolly as I could. "We'll do it anyway. Whether you're alive or dead at the time is up to you mister," I calmly replied.

Two Horses signalled the advance and as soon as we started, two shots rang out. The man on the first wagon was lying on the ground. I turned to look and saw that Maggie was holding her side with her free hand and I could see the blood. "Kill the guards now." The whistle signal went out and it sounded like one shot with and echo. I whistled for my med kit and angrily turned to the man from the wagon train, "You better start praying she lives cause if she doesn't none of you will."

The man's face blanched white, I got off my horse and tried to get Maggie to get down, "I'm sorry Sir I can't. I'm holding the colours."

Two Horses whistled for a flag bearer and one came racing forward. Maggie handed the flag off, saluted, and the collapsed into my arms.

Red Hawk turned to the man, "Go tell your people to throw down their guns and knives. If we find any one armed when we come up they will be killed and you as well. Understand?"

The man nodded and rode back to his wagons. We watched as they all quickly began to throw down guns and knives. Red Hawk sent troopers in and they started searching the people in the wagons while Broken Knife and some of his men opened the first wagon.

While they were doing that my wives were by my side as I tried to stop the bleeding on Maggie's wound. It wasn't a bad wound, not as bad as it could have been. The bullet had passed through the fleshy part of her side basically making a deep cut on her side. "Jana, go tell Robert that it's not bad, she'll be all right." Jana mounted up and lit out to give Robert the good news. "Beth, whistle us up a wagon would you, please?"

A few minutes later a wagon pulled up and a couple of the Jones' boys helped me get her in. I kissed my lovely wife, "Beth stay here with her. I want to see what these guys were so stupid over."

I got on Jack and rode up to the wagons, "What is it Broken Knife?"

"More rifles but mostly ammunition," Broken Knife replied.

The man we had been talking to came up to me, "I didn't know there were guns in there, honest, but why?"

"They were for the King of Santa Fe but he's dead now," I replied.

"You have no right to take those guns," the angry man screamed at me.

"Mister, shut up now or die," I was way tired of this asshole. He was just about to start mouthing off again when I drew out my sword, "Say one more word and I'll put your head on the ground before you get the second one out."

Tommy was standing nearby, "You better listen mister, he's faster than a rattler with that sword. He cut one guy's head off and it stayed on until he finally fell down."

The man's hands went up to his neck but at least he shut up. "Are there any slaves on this train?" I asked. Tommy answered, "There are three wagons full of little girls and some of them have been raped."

"They're just whores," one of the drivers replied.

Tommy spun on the man, "Did you rape one of them?"

"Yeah, what of it?" the man replied.

Tommy pulled his pistol and shot the man, "Tom, would you prep him for the hereafter?"

"Sure Tommy," I cut the man's head off and Tommy picked it up by the hair and started walking back towards on of the wagons. A few minutes later Red Hand had the surviving males of the wagon train lined up as Tommy brought the girls out and had them point out the men who had raped them. Five more men were shot and dismembered. Riders took the parts and scattered them to the four winds as Tommy and the other orphans helped the girls get settled in.

The angry man just stared at me, "You let that boy shoot that man. He was unarmed."

"He raped a little girl, what do you think he should do? That boy has had a pretty hard life, as far as he's concerned any one who harms an orphan has forfeited his right to life. The only way to get dead faster than rape would be to do something to that boy, about half of these kids around here were rescued by that boy."

Tommy came up to me, "Tom, some of the girls needs some medical attention, one is real bad."

"Can she walk?" I watched as Tommy shook his head, "Get her in a wagon and bring her over to our wagon, I need to go stitch up Maggie." I mounted Jack and rode back.

When I got back I was told that they had moved Maggie to her own wagon. My wives and my mother were there with her and she was resting quietly. Mom had cleaned the wound again so I took another look at it. The main reason I had just packed it and went over to the other wagons was I wasn't real sure what or how I should do this one.

"Tom, I don't think you can sew her up the way that is," Mom said, "it's awfully wide."

"Maggie, what do you want me to do? I'm afraid if I stitch it up..." I kept moving the skin back and forth trying to figure out how the bullet made such a wide gash. I pinched it together at the middle of the wound, Maggie grimaced despite the pain killers Mom had given her, "Mom you think that would pull too much if I sewed it up like that?"

"Yes," Mom nodded, "I think that will work."

I was just about to start when we heard a horse slide to stop outside the wagon, "Where's Tom?" Tommy stuck his head in the wagon, "Tom, look what I found in one of those wagons, its medicine like that you brought with you. There was a whole bunch of different bottles, I got one of each and brought them, I thought one might help Maggie."

He handed me an empty flour sack half filled with bottles. The first bottle I pulled out was a bottle of lidocaine, "Tommy, were there any syringes like this?" I held up one of the few disposable ones I had left.

"Yeah, boxes of them, do you want me to get you some?"

"No just get all of those medical supplies back here as soon as you can. But be careful with them."

"Ok, but that feller that got mad about me shooting that rapist didn't want me taking what I did. He said that stuff didn't belong to us and he wasn't going to let me take it till I told him I was going to shoot him if he didn't," it was plain that Tommy had had a belly full of the man.

"Bring him with it. He's fixing to get with the program or be past caring one way or another." Tommy bailed out of the wagon and we heard him urging his pony into a dead run headed back to the other wagons. I drew up a syringe full of the lidocaine, "Ok, Maggie, this is going to sting a bit." I irrigated the wound with the last of my sterile saline then started injecting the lidocaine around the wound.

"Tom what does that stuff do?" Robert asked, his face still showed the worry it had had ever since Maggie had been shot.

"It numbs it, watch," I took the syringe and stuck it near one of the first injection sites, "Do you feel that Maggie?"

"I can feel kind of like your pushing on it. What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm poking you with a needle," I looked at Robert and could see the relief on his face. I finished deadening the area around the wound. And then with mother's help sewed Maggie's side. I was just finishing up when I heard a wagon drive up and the complaining voice of a man I was starting to wish I'd shot hours earlier.

"You have no right to take those supplies," the man cried.

"Broken Knife, please let me shoot him. I am fed up with him telling us what we don't have the right to do," Tommy begged.

"No Tommy," Broken Knife answered, "we'll let Tom decide what to do with him."

I stepped out of the wagon and started cleaning my hands, "Mister, if you open your mouth one more time to complain or protest I'm going to let Tommy shoot you. We have the right by the power of our guns. Were these drugs for the doctor in Santa Fe?"

"Yes, and he is going to be very upset about not getting them," the man complained.

"No, he doesn't care one way or another. You see, we sent that sadistic bastard to hell the same day we sent the governor there."

"You can't be serious, you really did kill the governor?"

"Yep, led him through the streets in his long underwear, tried him, convicted him, then in accordance with what his son did to over two dozen children, he was cut up at every joint. We tied tourniquets on him to keep him from bleeding to death too quick, his son used a red hot knife for the same purpose." The man looked a little green around the gills, "What's the matter you don't approve?"

"That's a horrible way to die..."

"It is justice! He knew his son was doing that to those children and did nothing to stop him. He got what was coming to him."

"Mr. Black is not going to be happy to hear about all this," the man said.

For the first time today something had come out of this man's mouth that I wanted to hear, "Who is Mr. Black?"

"He's the man that gave us all these goods to take to the governor."

"And where is he exactly?"

"He has a big house outside of St. Jo."

"Did you hear that Broken Knife? Get Red Hawk and Two Horses and the others, we need to have a Council meeting. Broken Knife you keep an eye on this yahoo, I'll be there in a minute."

"What about the girls that need medical help?" Tommy asked.

"I'm sorry Tommy, I'm ashamed I forgot about them. Where do you have them? Broken Knife, tell Red Hawk I'll be there as soon as I can." I stuck my head in the wagon, "Beth I'm going to need my kit and probably all of you, Tommy wants me to check out the girls that've been raped."

By the time I got through checking three eleven year olds, a twelve, two thirteen year olds, and one fourteen year old and seeing the damage those men had done I was ready to kill the rest of them myself. The ones that didn't participate were just as guilty, if for no other reason than they allowed it to happen.

When I got to the Council the very first thing I did was to kick the two men from the wagon train right in the balls just as hard as I could. When they had recovered enough to where they could listen to me I started, "I've just spent the last three hours trying to repair the damage you bastards did to those girls," as the wagon master started to protest, "No! Shut up! You're just as guilty as those assholes we killed today. I am going to sleep on it tonight, if I can sleep, and when I wake up in the morning if I still feel like this I am killing the rest of you myself, but not before you suffer like those girls did. Broken Knife, please see to it that someone ties every swinging dick of them. I don't want any of them escaping so that I have to go hunt them down." The little angry man that had been grating on me all day started to open his mouth, "Oh shut up!" I punctuated my sentence by kicking him in the head.

"Was it that bad Tom?" Red Hawk looked at me with no small amount of concern.

I sat down and I guess it all caught up with me because I started crying, "It was the worst thing I've ever seen in my life. One little girl's anus is torn so bad I don't know if it will ever grow back right. I'm afraid she's infected from the abuse they did to her and her back." I shook my head, and then looked right at the wagon master, "Her back is covered with cuts made by the buckle end of a belt. She was beaten hard enough for the buckle to break some of her ribs." The wagon master looked sick to his stomach, "Yeah it's that bad, and each and every one of you deserve to be beaten the same way."

Red Hand walked over and wrapped his arms around me and just held me, "Come on Tom, let's go find your Mom and wives, they'll know how to help you get this hurt out." Red Hand turned the wagon master, "You wanted to know what kind of man he was, there you have it. You felt no remorse or guilt over what happened to those girls and you were there and could have stopped it. He was not there and yet the guilt eats on him. You want to know what kind of man Tom Dunlap is, look inside yourself, he is what you never will be." Red Hand reached down and helped me to my feet, I don't remember getting to my wagon but I was there with my loving wives.

Mom found some ambien in the new drugs we had taken off of the men today. I took it and didn't remember a thing until my sweeties woke me up next morning.

Jana and Fran brought my breakfast to me allowing me to avoid everyone else, "Did someone get some broth for little Mae?"

"Yes, my husband, we talked to Elizabeth, she is going to see to it the girl is taken care of," Prissy answered.

I finished my breakfast and sighed. I still hadn't made up my mind about the men. I stood up, strapped on my pistols and slid my sword into the leather loop I had adapted to hold it. After making a point of kissing my wives I walked across the camp to where Red Hawk was. The surviving men all stood and one approached me. I waved him off, "If you live or die will be up to Red Hawk. You make me sick. If he lets you live you better spend the rest of your lives doing everything you can atone for your inaction and if you ever have children, especially girls, you think about what you allowed to happen." I turned and walked away. My Mom, Elizabeth, and Red Hand were near by so I went to them, Mom wrapped me in her arms and I felt myself falling apart again.

Red Hand put his hand on my shoulder, "It will be all right my son, it is better not to kill with hate in your heart."

I pulled myself from Mom's arms and took Red Hand's hand, "Thank you ... Dad!"

Mom giggled and then I laughed, Red Hand shook his head, "Laugh ... Son ... What was it you always say? Call me anything but late for supper."

I looked at Red Hand, "Seriously Red Hand I would be proud to be your son. You are now my mother's mate, I will honour you as my father." Red Hand pulled me into a hug and held me there. It brought back a memory that I had tried to bury, my real father had never hugged me.

I heard the call for lunch, where had the morning gone? My Mom put her arm around my shoulder, her other hand was in Red Hand's who had Mom's hand in one hand and Elizabeth's in the other. I saw my sweeties coming toward us, "Gotta go Mom." I gave her a quick kiss and ran to my mates.

I was quickly covered with kisses. We got in the mess line and got our lunch; while we were eating Red Hawk announced that we would be back on the trail tomorrow. He must have known what my question was going to be because he explained that Tommy had built a special bed for the young lady that was hurt. I had seen Tommy last night with the girls. Saint Tommy the Pied Piper; as I thought about it I started laughing, the more I thought about it the funnier it became to me.

"What is so funny?" Prissy asked embarrassed that everyone was looking our way.

"Tom?" Red Hawk called out "What is wrong?"

I tried my best to stop laughing, "You know last night when we decided that we would need to go to St. Jo? Do you have any idea how many orphans there will be there?" I watched as the smiles began to grow, not just on Red Hawk, but every other person in the camp. Then someone shouted, "Look at Tommy!" and when we did everyone lost it. He had the biggest smile on his face, like it was Christmas Day and he had got everything he ever asked for.

Over the laugher Milt shouted, "This will be the biggest wagon train in the history of the world." The laughter began again, the laughter was good, it healed, and I needed healing.

Mom and I spent the afternoon inventorying the drugs we had seized. I was amazed at the expiration dates on the boxes and bottles. Someone was bringing this stuff from our time and possibly even our future, but how, and another good question was why? An even better question was, would I even recognize this future? I was starting to get that bad feeling again. We had questioned the man about his 'Mr. Black' and I was sure he was the one behind all this. I was pondering the facts I knew over and over when I heard the shouts of "Riders coming in!" We had continued to go through the drugs when I heard the whistles for officer call. I grabbed my hat and headed for the meeting.

Grey Fox and Garret Jones had almost ridden their horses to death and I was glad they had. Their two squads were on the last day of their week long patrol over two hundred miles away when they spotted the Pawnee band that we had been having trouble with. Morgan's death was still a sore spot with the troopers but everyone knew their orders so the two squads had been following them at a distance. That's when the Pawnee came up on another wagon train and all of the troopers recognised the type of wagons that were making it up. From cover on a hill they watched as the Pawnee attacked the wagons. The men on the wagons had funny looking guns but when the Pawnee got close enough to fire the guns were nothing to laugh at. In less than a minute, thirty Pawnee and most of their horses were dead.

"What did the guns look like Garret?" I asked.

"They were black and when one of the drivers got down on the ground he carried it like it had a handle about where the action was on the Henry."

"Oh shit! Was there anything else?" I asked almost afraid of the answer.

"We watched them until they set up camp for the night and just before it got too dark to see they sent two man teams out away from the camp. They had the rifles and they had something that looked like the field glasses you have but they were wearing them on their heads."

"Damn and shit!" I exclaimed.

"What is it Tom? What do they have? What kind of guns were those?" Red Hawk asked his face showing the same concern mine did.

I dropped to one knee and drew the outline of an M-16 in the sand, "Yes, that looks like it!" Grey Fox exclaimed.

"That is an M-16 rifle it has a magazine that comes off of the gun, they can hold twenty or thirty bullets and they can fire every one of them in just a few seconds. The other thing they saw sounds like night vision glasses so they can see anyone who comes up at night."

"Are they sending out scouts?" Broken Knife asked.

"No, at least they didn't the day we watched them, oh and they have girls and many slaves, men and women but they are driving the end wagons," Garret replied.

"How many wagons?" Red Hawk asked.

"Sixty total, forty five have the men with the guns," Garret answered.

"Only the special wagons have the men with the guns?" Garret nodded "Are there any good ambush places?"

Garret started grinning and reached inside his shirt and pulled out a map that they had drawn, "In four days they will be here," he pointed to a place on the map, "the road can go around this hill or they can go through this narrow valley, the creek has almost under cut the road that goes around. That is what most of the squad is doing now, they are digging it out so that is too narrow to get a wagon through. When we left the road was only three foot wide. They were going to spend the rest of the time making it look natural. They will have to come through here. If we all fire at once they won't have a chance." Garret grinned, "Or at least that's what Maggie says sir."

"Red Hawk?" he knew what I was asking even with out me finishing.

"It's three hours till sunset. We've never travelled at night but there's no reason we can't. Let's roll right now. We'll need every minute to make this work. The herds will just have to follow in the morning."

The call went out and we started breaking camp at a record pace. We were moving in less than an hour. We travelled all night; at dawn the next morning we stopped and watered the horses and mules. Moses went through and changed out a couple that looked like they needed a rest and then we were back at it.

We stopped for supper, we had been on the trail for twenty four hours and Moses and his men swapped out all of the draft animals. I checked on the rape victim and gave her some more antibiotic and pain killers. One of the many drugs that we had seized was one called Buprenex, it's buprenorphine. One of Mom's good friends had a nightmare of a disease call RSDS - Reflex Sympathy Disorder Syndrome - basically she was in constant pain. She swore by the stuff and when Mom had looked it up she had found it was preferred for long time use because it was less addicting. With the drugs I had available to me now I could make this girl a zombie, but considering how long that I thought it was going to take for her to heal the Buprenex sounded like it was just the ticket or, if you like, just what the doctor ordered. The only drawback was it required giving the girl a shot every six to eight hours. I ended up putting a venous catheter in the girl, her whole body was a mass of bruises so there was just not much muscle to be found that wasn't damaged. The catheter also allowed me to use the IV antibiotic that I had found among the many drugs and with the damage to her rectum and colon I figured she needed all the help she could get.

Even with Tommy's special bed Mae had been bounced around pretty bad during the night. We had offered to leave a squad behind with her, but she wouldn't hear of it. So this morning as she was getting her daily dose of antibiotic I drew up a double dose of Buprenex and a little diazepam. Beth stuck her head in at the back of the wagon and it made me think, "Mae do you need to go take care of your business?"

"No, Tom I did it as soon as we stopped."

"Are you ready to go to sleep for a bit?"

"Can you wait?"

"Sure sweetie," I sat down beside her and held her hand. Her smile, though forced through the pain, was still pretty. "Is the Pied Piper taking good care of you?"

"Tommy? Oh yes he's a nice boy."

"Don't let him hear you call him a boy."

"I guess he has had to grow up fast hasn't he? I couldn't believe it when they told me he has five wives and it will probably be more if some of the girls that were in our bunch have their way."

"Will you be among them?" I smiled as I watched her reaction to my question.

"No," she sighed, "The man I love is married too, but he's older and I'm afraid he won't give me the time of day."

"Well don't give up on him unless he's not worthy of you. Is he a nice man?"

"I think so, and every woman I've asked about him says he is."

Thinking I'd play the matchmaker a bit, "You want me to say something to him, maybe get him to stop in and visit with you?"

Mae laughed then grimaced in pain from the broken ribs, "It's you, you silly. I'm in love with you."

I sat there with a dumb look on my face for far too long and she started to cry, "No, don't cry. I'm flattered, really I am but..."

"Kiss her."

"What?" I turned to see that Beth was still watching us from the back of the wagon, "Kiss her, you'll know if you love her one way or another."

I slipped to my knees beside Mae's bed and pressed my lips to hers, a groan escaped her mouth only to be captured by mine. Beth climbed into the wagon and kneeled beside me. When I finally broke the kiss I was weak and dizzy, "Oh my god, you're one of us."

Beth leaned and kissed Mae and I heard both of them groan. I heard the whistles for five minutes. "Honey, I need to give you this before we start rolling."

Mae smiled, "It's all right, I'll have the best dreams now, I love you Tom and you too Beth."

"We love you too Mae, rest now," Beth said to her as she held her hand. I started injecting the medicine into her IV.

A head stuck in the back of the wagon, "Tom, will you be ready in four minutes?"

"No, I'll need another five or ten, sorry."

"You got it," Broken Knife said.

I heard the whistles for wait up, and watched as the two drugs did their job and Mae's eyes slowly closed as she slipped off to sleep. I drew up another syringe of the Buprenex and put it away as the last of the antibiotic emptied into her vein. I took the connection off and flushed the venous catheter with Heparin to prevent any clots and taped it up to protect it. "Tell them I'm ready."

Beth went to the front of the wagon and told the driver, he whistled out the code and a few minutes later the wagon lurched and started off again.

Beth lay down to try and get some sleep so she could drive later tonight. I sat and stared into the face of my newest love and wondered what the others would think. The wagon hit a particularly big bump and Mae's eyes come open, she smiled broadly, "I love you," she whispered and then she closed her eyes and slipped back into sleep.

I got up and climbed up beside the driver and gave her a kiss, "Mae is one of us."

"We knew that," Fran said and handed the reins to me and crawled back with Beth for a nap.



-------

Chapter 11

It was the thirty eighth hour on the trail when we saw trooper Maggie Mills. We were tired but we were on site with at least two days to spare. Red Hawk, Two Horses, Broken Knife, Milt, and I rode out to meet Maggie. "Where are they?" I asked but the smile on her face told me she had good news.

"They're still three, maybe four days away. They broke an axel yesterday morning. Tom, all of those wagons are overloaded, but the first three are the heaviest, so we came up with an idea. They have to come up through the canyon now. We caved in the other road and sacrificed some buffalo to make it look like the buffalo caused the cave in and a couple of them died in the process. Then in the canyon at this end we dug a tunnel all the way across the road. It's four feet wide and four foot tall and there's only maybe seven inches to a foot of soil to hold up those heavy wagons. We're not even sure it will hold up the mules pulling the wagons, but either way the first one to go over the tunnel stops right there."

Red Hawk looked like he could hardly contain his glee, "Will they be able to see the tunnel?"

"No Sir! We closed the end up with rocks and brush. If you don't know where it is you can't find it," Maggie looked like she was about to bust with pride.

Two Horses was nodding his head, "What else have you done to get ready?"

Maggie ran her fingers across the many blisters on her hands, "We have started digging foxholes up on the sides of the hills, and our sharpshooters have taken a few shots to see how well they could fire from concealment."

"Well done Maggie," Red Hawk reached across and took her hand looking at the many blisters, "Tom, it looks like you have some doctoring to do."

Two Horses whistled up the squad leaders and one of them was really glad to see Maggie. Two Horses smiled and nodded his head towards Robert. Robert jumped off his horse and ran to his wife. Maggie got off her horse very gingerly, the back breaking work of the past two days had been non stop and everyone in the two squads were tired and sore. Robert wrapped his arms around his wife as they kissed, "God I missed you. This has been the longest week in my life."

"While Robert and Maggie get reacquainted I'll brief you a bit. Maggie's and Franks squads have worked their butts off. They have sabotaged the other road and dug a trap on the other road the wagons will have to take. They have also started digging foxholes. As soon as their reunion is over we're going to ride over to the ambush site and go over the plan." I watched as Robert helped Maggie back on her horse, "Alright Maggie, lead on."

As Maggie led us to the ambush site we went over the dangers created by the automatic weapons. The ambush site turned out to be everything that the scouts had reported and more. The road between the two hills was the steeper of the two roads; the other road wound around the series of low hills and, according to Milt, was only used in really bad weather or when the loads were extra heavy. He also said that many of the people that used the trail a lot had noticed how the mostly dry creek that ran beside the other road was cutting into the trail and Milt had been told that it might not be usable after this year.

As we looked down at the three dead buffalo lying with the dirt that had once been the road we had to smile because nothing looked out of place. We went over every inch of both hills and assigned squads to specific areas along the road. The only negative was that there would be no place to hide horse mounted troops that could seal up the rear. The troops to perform that function would have to be almost three miles away.

Once the assignments were made half of each squad was put to work digging and camouflaging their foxholes. This battle would fit perfectly with our doctrine of war, if possible we always wanted to pick the place and this was an ideal site. The second thing that we always wanted were superior numbers. We would have every trooper we had dug in to those two hills. The one thing that I did not like to think about was what would happen if we failed with our first volley and that is what I tried to focus our people on: what would happen if we missed. If we got into a fire fight we would get hurt and hurt bad.

For two days we worked our tails off. While we were doing that our target was having trouble by the bucket load. They had replaced the broken axel and travelled less than a mile when the wheel on another wagon broke. The third wagon in fact and our scouts watched as they yelled and screamed at each other over the broken wheel. It was obvious that their frustration level was very high. That frustration made them make mistakes. That night our scouts reported that two men had been badly hurt and the axel damaged when they had dropped the wagon while trying to change out the wheel.

It took them three days to cover a little over five miles and that gave us plenty of time to prepare. The problem was the extra time was only causing second guessing and nervous worry. Day three and the target was still over a day away, the scouts that night reported a big argument between the man the scouts had nicknamed "Big Boss" and the man they called "Booger picker". I don't think I have to tell you how he got that name.

"Big Boss" spent all day riding out to the side of the wagons on his big bay horse yelling at the men driving the wagons. Several times when the scouts had been within shouting distance they had heard Big Boss screaming about running behind schedule. On other occasions he had referred to the governor and then last night in yet another blow up with Booger Picker had said, "I don't care if your brother is the governor." That bit of information had made our task all the more urgent.

They made good time and covered most of the distance to the ambush site before they made camp. Scouts hiding in thick brush listened as the two men had yet another shouting match. The subject of this one was water. Their breakdowns had caused them to take three days longer than normal between water holes. This meant they were getting desperate to get to the creek where the rest of our Band was encamped. I hoped this would be a good thing.

The ambush would happen tomorrow. We had an early supper then everyone went and spent time with their loved ones. We had moved our bed for the night to the wagon where Mae was. She was only fourteen years old and I didn't really understand why, but she was the same as my other wives. I had fought it briefly but had surrendered to Beth's logic when she had said, "We have accepted it, why shouldn't you?" So Mae had joined our marriage. Her vagina and anus were still healing as were her many bruises and broken bones but we included her where we could. And since tonight was so important we made love in the bed we had rigged beside Mae's. I had worried that watching us would be hard for her, reminding her of her rape.

Mae had to remind me of what I already knew, being raped and being made love to are worlds apart. Mae laughed as she watched Jana get on top of me and ride me to a noisy end. "Well," Mae started, "what Jana does to you is somewhere between rape and making love."

"I can't help it, I was horny." Jana complained.

Which was answered by all of us saying at once, "You're always horny."

Jana just grinned, "So?"

We all laughed; it was a good way to take the edge off. We really needed to sleep but we were way too keyed up for that. At two in the morning the call went out and I kissed my wives. Beth and Prissy would stay here with Mae, while Jana, Fran, Sam and I went to take our positions. It would be a long wait until dawn.

As the sun came up that morning everything that we had thought to do had been done. The thing that nagged me was whether we had forgotten anything. We had put our best two hundred marksmen and women in the foxholes all along both sides of the narrow pass. At the far end was the trap that we hoped would stop the wagons. Robert's two field pieces were dug in looking down the pass if it didn't. Robert's three squads with their two cannons and Gatling gun would, with the rest of our troops, stop the wagons from ever getting though the pass.

A light shower had passed through the day before giving Tommy an idea. He had taken off without saying a word and returned two hours later with Moses and six of his men. They took four spare axels and used them to make tracks so that it looked like two wagons had gone through right after the rain. The axels were light enough that they rolled right over the tunnel; two wheels with horseshoes attached to it left the needed horse tracks. The trap was now baited.

At half past ten Big Boss rode up to the fork and saw the buffalo decaying at the bottom of the creek. He rode up the pass a couple of hundred yards looking at the tracks that Tommy and Moses' men had left then he looked around, but didn't see anything out of place. When he turned his horse and rode back to the approaching wagons all of us breathed a sigh of relief.

The wagons entered the pass with Big Boss off of the main trail; twice he rode within ten feet of one of our foxholes. The lead wagon approached the trap, the drivers urging the teams up the long hill, the guards watching, perhaps worried about the very thing that was about to happen. When the first wagon rolled right over the tunnel and nothing happened everyone's heart rate seemed to double. The second wagon came and went and still nothing happened. The signal, a meadow lark call, went out and Robert's men got ready as the third wagon approached the tunnel. The mules made it over, as did the front wheels, but when the rear wheels went over the tunnel it collapsed and the yelling started and the wagons behind had to stop. The two wagons that had passed over the trap stopped as well. Now that all the wagons had stopped the countdown had started.

At the five second mark the pass erupted. There were a few late shots but the first volley had worked. Forty guards were hit with at least two bullets each, Big Boss was hit by five. I yelled down for the others to put their hands up if they wanted to live. Six did not want to live, but those six inspired the rest to put up their hands.

Troopers that had been assigned to secure the automatic rifles now did so as the rest of us rushed down from the top of the pass. The four squads that had trailed the wagons and had been hiding in the clouds of dust the wagons raised had come at full gallop at the sound of the first shot. By the time we rode down the pass those troopers had come up to the tail of the wagon train.

Among those four squads were many of the freed slaves. These squads had been picked specifically for this task because all of the slaves were kept at the tail of this train. We had just cornered Booger Picker when we heard shots at the tail of the train. Broken Knife rode to check it out. While I tried to get Booger Picker to talk, "Where did these come from?" I held what turned out to be an M-4 rifle complete with grenade launcher.

"Mr. Black, he's a friend of Mr. Johns. What are you going to do with us?" Booger Picker asked.

I took a look at the wagon that had fallen into the tunnel it was nothing but parts now, "Unhitch the team and whistle up a couple of wagons so we can off load this wagon." I turned back to Booger Picker who was at that very second digging in his nose, "What's your name? I'm pretty sure you don't want us calling you by the name we've been calling you?"

"Bob Jenkins. Why, what have you been calling me?"

The man was still digging in his nose, "Our scouts nicknamed you Booger Picker and the governor's brother, Big Boss about a week ago. We listened to too many of yours and his arguments."

The man slowly took his finger out of his nose and looked at me; some of his own men around us were snickering and covering their mouths to hide their laughter. "You've been listening to us? Wait a minute, what do you mean the late Governor?"

"We invaded Santa Fe over a month ago and captured the governor in his own house. He, along with his supporters, were tried and executed." I watched as the man swallowed hard, "And yes we've had people shadowing you for almost 2 weeks." The wagons were coming down the pass as we spoke, "Get the drivers searched and their hands tied."

Broken Knife rode up, "Some of the people didn't like the idea of freeing their slaves."

"And you killed them for that?" Booger Picker exclaimed.

"Working for the Governor or keeping slaves are both punishable by death." I watched as my words sunk in. The squads started unloading the wagon. It was filled with 5.56mm ammunition. Once all of the ammo was off loaded that wagon headed back to camp and the second empty wagon turned and eased back. The hidden compartment was opened up and case after case of M-4's were unloaded as the drivers look on wide eyed.

The next wagon to pull up had an axel and two wheels for the wagon in the ditch. lthough the wagon was badly damaged Moses and his men had it jury rigged in less than an hour and out of the hole created as the tunnel collapsed. The wagon that had held the parts and the broken wagon headed on back to our camp.

Four more wagons were lined up waiting to pull forward. When the broken wagon got clear, the first of the four wagons pulled forward, turned around parallel to the former tunnel. The wagon, like the three others waiting on the road in front of it, was filled with large rocks. The rocks were quickly unloaded into the hole, one wagon full after another.

As the last wagon rolled off the last rock, three more wagons started down the hill. These three wagons, which were filled with dirt, each turned and pulled up beside the hole, now almost filled with rocks, and ten troopers start shovelling dirt from the wagon. Soon that wagon was emptied and another took its place. Two and a half hours after the ambush the hole was filled and the captured wagons were pulling in beside ours at our camp.

Tommy found the wagon with the young girls. Fortunately these girls had been better treated than the last group we had freed. The drivers listened as we told what Preston Johns had been doing and how we had found out about it. Milt knew most of the trains that had been hit. Two of the drivers had to be consoled when they found out that brothers and sisters on those trains had been killed. Most of the drivers elected to stay and join our band. That left three that seemed alright but no one ever fully trusted them. One of the drivers said that the three men often drank with the guards. So it was no surprise when, two nights later, they were caught trying to steal some of the M-4 rifles.

The next day, after a quick tribunal, they were executed. I suppose I should feel bad about them, but I keep thinking of those kids and how brutally they were murdered. While they might not have done the deed they had knowledge. So many had knowledge and did nothing about it. I remember reading..."the only way for evil to exist is for good men to see it and do nothing" ... I don't remember who said it but I believe it to be true and, in a way, it has become what drives me, here in this time. My thoughts went back to the wagons we'd taken.

M-4 assault rifles, a thousand both with and without grenade launcher, and with them enough 5.56mm ammo to start a war. Hand grenades, smoke grenades, ten M-24.308 bolt action sniper rifles with several thousand rounds of ammo, claymore mines, and one M-82A1.50 caliber Barrett semi auto sniper rifle and plenty of ammo for it. Oh! And I almost forgot, night vision goggles with lots of spare batteries and still more drugs and medical equipment and books. What were these people playing at? How are they getting all this stuff to this time and why?

If I ever had any doubts about the character of Red Hawk and his brother Two Horses, they are gone now. With the weapons we have now we could close off the flow of settlers coming west. We could concede California, Oregon, and Washington on the west coast allow them Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. We would then rule everything else west of the Mississippi and it would be damn hard for anyone to stop us. They still wanted to go west but agreed that something must be done with Mr. Black, and with Mr. Chase's help we were learning a lot about their operation. We learned that there should be another wagon train coming through with more weapons. We decided to wait right where we were. Long range scouts had already been sent out. Taking a page from the Pony Express, we were setting up riders all along the trail. Each rider was set the distance one can safely gallop a horse without hurting the horse.

Five days later the first galloper arrived. She slid her horse to a stop and saluted. She handed off the pouch with the reports in it. As instructed the first paragraph gave a brief summery of the situation followed by details and suggested actions.

Squad leader Josh Jones had an idea. After a short discussion with Red Hawk and Two Horses, we sent the message for Josh to try his idea. Tia, one of the orphans Tommy had rescued from Santa Fe, returned after having a hot meal and picking up a fresh mount; putting the message pouch over her head she left for her twenty five mile leg of the trip back. Twenty two hours later the message would be in Josh's hands. After that all we could do was sit and wait.

Early the third day after Tia had left our camp at a gallop, she was returning, and if the grin on her face was any indicator Josh had been successful. Tia rode to the centre of the camp where Red Hawk, Two Horses, and I stood waiting. The crowd that had gathered parted, making a clear path and she never slowed until she slid her pony to a stop, saluted, and pulled the pouch over her head. Tia's smile had all of us even more anxious to hear the news.

I pulled the report from the pouch, and smiled myself when I saw the action report. "Here is what the after action report says. 'Stopped Wagon Train at ten am the morning of the fourth. Squad sniper Mae Smith fired one round as a demonstration, '" I stopped reading for a second, "The plan was for the sniper to make a long distance shot either with the M-24 or the M-82A1, then offer the Wagon Master a chance to either surrender or to die." I went back to the report, "Let's see, where was I? Ah here, "the Wagon Master ordered all of the men to lay down their guns and they complied. Initial search of the thirty special wagons found the following: M-4 carbines, M-24 rifles, two M-82A1, two large guns that shoot the same ammo as the Barrett's except the bullets are on a belt, five guns that use the .308 ammo on belts, four very strange looking guns, and large amounts of ammunition and medical supplies and five wagons with material that we cannot identify. In addition to the weapons seizures thirty eight slaves were liberated and Trooper Davidson rescued twenty two young ladies one of which had been raped two weeks earlier. Rapist had been hung by the Wagon Master the next day. We have taken control of the wagon train and are moving it too a location with better graze and more water, will wait for you there as ordered.'"

Everyone broke into cheers. Red Hawk put his hands up, "Hitch up the teams and let's see how fast we can be ready to move out." Red Hawk then turned to me, "I'm glad we started the herds in that direction after Tia left. I wish now I had listened to you and started the wagons out at the same time."

I smiled at Red Hawk and shrugged my shoulders, "It'll take ten or twelve days to get there, a two day head start is not a big deal. Everyone is pretty much ready to go this morning so we should get a good day's travel in." I turned and headed to Beth's wagon. I needed to check on our Mae; she had been doing remarkably well over the last few days. Although her anus had pretty much healed I still had her on a liquid diet and boy howdy did she ever hate it. There is just so many days that anyone can stand broth and corn mush. Since the kiss we had moved Mae from the wagon where Tommy had her to Beth's wagon and apart from sex she had become a part of our marriage. Did it seem strange to be in love and married to a girl who's only fourteen years old? The short answer is: yes, it did. Was it unusual in this day and time for fourteen year old girls to marry? No, not even a bit; and sometimes, like in Elizabeth Hand's case, she had been thirteen when her loving daddy married her off to her 'loving mate' in return for two mules. And from some of the stories that I've heard the family values of our forefathers fell far short of being what they were trying to sell to the teens of my time.

-------

We had been on the trail for eight days; travelling for me in this time was monotonous for the most part so I had been spending a lot of time with Mae. She is as beautiful as my other wives but in a completely different way. Mae's hair was black, so black it almost seemed iridescent. And, oh how her hair contrasted with her skin! Mae's skin was alabaster white and, save for the scars on her back, it was flawless. And then there's her eyes; I couldn't look at her eyes without getting completely lost in their azure pools. Never in my life had I ever seen bluer eyes and now that the pain was getting less and less each day the sparkle was beginning to return to them.

The wounds on her back had completely healed by now, as had the cuts and bruises to her vagina. Her anus had been the biggest surprise as it had healed faster than I ever expected. That left only her two broken ribs to heal before she was well. Last night she begged me to pleasure her with my mouth after she had watched me send Prissy over the edge that way. In the end she found the feeling too intense to hold still and the pain from her broken ribs cancelled my efforts to get her to orgasm. This brought tears to her eyes, but I promised her that we would all make it up to her as soon as she healed up. Some time around midnight we slipped off into slumber.

The next morning started off like pretty much all the others. All that ended a little after ten when a call of riders approaching came from the rear of the column. That call was soon followed by a call for squads two, four, and ten. I had been driving Beth's wagon with her and Mae sitting beside me. I handed Beth the reins and Jana rode up and handed me the reins for Spot, an Appaloosa stud horse that I had been riding some to give Jack a break, "Can I go with you?" Jana asked.

�Sure come on.� We nudged our horses to a run and headed to where Red Hawk and Two Horses were. The riders turned out to be twenty Comanche warriors led by Two Hats.

Two Hats was looking for his sister, Willow. A travelling Medicine man had told him of the abuses in Iron Shirts camp and he had gone to rid the plains of Iron Shirt once and for all, but when he had got to the camp he had found the bodies of Iron Shirt and others scattered by the animals.

Red Hawk signalled for the wagons to start down the trail as he and Two Hats continued to talk. They rode along parallel to the wagon train until finally he led Two Hats up to a wagon. There on the seat sitting between Willow and her daughter Sally was Samuel.

Two Hats spoke to Willow and Samuel for a bit and then rode back and joined Red Hawk and me. He asked many questions as we rode along and was very surprised to find out that Lucy and some of the other women were putting the Comanche language on paper and that all of the children were being taught to read and write in English and Comanche. He finally asked the question we had hoped he would. He asked to join our band. We rode round to the members of the ruling committee and each member gladly agreed. Two Hats called his number two man to him and told him they would be joining the Band. The young brave had a huge smile on his face. Two Hats sent him and another brave to get their people, who were about ten miles away. They would join us for supper as they were camped near where we would stop for the night.

Five days after Two Hats band merged with ours we caught up with Squad Leader Josh Jones. I was anxious to see what the material was that Josh couldn't identify. When I saw the wagons up ahead of us I kicked ole Jack into a lope.

When I got there I could tell that Josh was just as anxious as I was as he quickly led me to the wagons containing the unknown cargo. I didn't have to wonder long. The first thing Josh showed me was the 'funny looking guns'. They turned out to be four Heckler & Koch GMG, (Grenade Machine Gun). The HK GMG is a belt fed grenade launcher. It fires a 40mm x 53 grenade and is capable of firing 350 rounds per minute. We were also now the proud owners of twelve M-60 machine guns, and two Browning fifty cals. The other unidentifiable material turned out to be M224 60mm mortars; ten of them with illumination, high explosive, and smoke rounds, Russian made RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) launchers and finally solar panels and ham radio equipment, dozens of hand held radios.

Why? Why? Why? I kept thinking back to how many thousands and thousands of men were killed during the Civil War without these vastly improved weapons. What was going to happen now? What if Mr. Black was sending these same weapons to, say, people in the south? Just the weapons that we had seized would have been more than enough to change the outcome of any battle fought. I thought, 'I have to fight this. Only I can change this, ' I felt a cold chill go down my spine, took and few steps away from everyone dropped to my hands and knees and threw up.

My wives were the only ones to try to approach me. Beth handed me a tin cup full of water so I could rinse out my mouth. Mae, who was enjoying her first day outside of her bed, brought me a cool wet rag. She handed it to me and put her small pale hand on my face, "Tom," she spoke softly like the breeze in the Aspens, "we love you Tom. No matter what, we love you and we'll be here for you."

I reached up and took her hand. I could feel their love flowing into me giving me the strength to do what it was so obvious I needed to do. My other wives came to me one at a time and as each put their hand on me I felt the power of our union grow and entwine itself into my soul. I realised what I had done; for a moment there I forgot where my strength came from. I forgot how much more of a person I was now because of my wives and my Band. As my wives gathered around me I looked up at them, "Will you forgive me?"

Beth took my arm and helped me up, "You're not alone anymore Tom. We're here to share the good and the bad. You understand what all this will mean, but you can't take all of the responsibility to right it all on yourself. We are a family, we are a Band," she smiled and then pulled me into a kiss, "I forgive you."

One by one my wives hugged, kissed, and forgave me. When Mae released me Red Hawk walked up to me, "Are you all right Tom?"

"Yes, I forgot who I was."

"I have seen it coming. You and your mother live with a burden that I can hardly imagine. But all this," he pointed to the machine guns and mortars, "make the past you knew a history we will not have. We have to stop this Tom; more than just our lives are depending on it."

I nodded my head, "I think we need to have a council meeting tonight."

"Would you please demonstrate the new weapons first?" Red Hawk asked.

"Yeah, I guess that would make it a lot easier to understand the magnitude of the problem.�

So I spent the night studying the weapon manuals for an hour of showing our people and the men from the wagon train the power of the weapons they were hauling. The mortars and the HK GMG seemed to be the most impressive for the members of the band but they had already seen M-4's and Gatling guns. The fifty cal and the M-60 just made the Gatling gun seem tame. After that there was nothing but silence and the acrid smell of gun smoke.

-------

Over the next few days squads were trained on the new weapons. Additional men and women were added under Capt. Mills. He would be in charge of our mortars, the two fifty cals, and the GMG. He would become our artillery company. Before, Red Hand or Broken Knife would just pick squads at random to go and do something. When we set up Robert's Company we standardised everything. A squad was nine troopers and a squad leader as it had been. Ten squads made a company, but now squads would be assigned to company commanders.

Red Hand was given two of the M60's and ten squads, as were Two Hats, Two Bears, Jim Nelson one of Robert's former sergeants, Two Shirts and Little Wolf. That gave us six hundred trained, mounted, and armed troops, with an additional company that we kept in reserve under Stands Tall. I shudder to think how big a force we could take on if they were armed with the standard weapons of 1847.

Scouts came in late one night reporting that there were two wagon trains two days apart heading our way. The first one, the smaller of the two, would pass in front of us in three days and for once there were none of the secret wagons.

I can't imagine what they must have thought when they came up over that low rise and spotted us. If nothing else suddenly finding yourself in front of six hundred mounted troops whose intentions you don't know tends to scare the shit out of you. And that's where these folks were at. They didn't know whether they were washing or hanging out to dry, and for a minute or two we thought they were going to fight. And all they had seen so far were the three squads that were handling the livestock and our wagons.

Red Hawk decided they needed to see more so he whistled up company formations. A large white flag was promptly displayed and two men rode out to meet us. Robert and I laid back to see how they would react to Red Hawk, Two Horses, Red Hand, and Broken Knife.

They never asked if any of them spoke English, one was trying to sign something while he yelled out the words in English. They wanted to help Red Hawk real bad, so they were going to give him much whiskey for our horses and cattle. When the man asked if Red Hawk understood he replied in English, "We do not want your whiskey, and if we did we would want a lot more than what you could possibly offer."

I took that as my hint to step in, "Do you always try to fuck the Native Americans out of their goods?" The man sat there on his horse just staring at me. "Well?"

"Are you a captive?" the man asked.

"No, answer my question."

"No, I'm always fair," he replied.

"Now you're either telling me a lie or you believe your own bullshit. Which is it? There's over six hundred head of cattle and probably close to that in horses and you're going to sit there and tell me their only worth what? Three hundred dollars worth of whiskey?" The man's face went red he started to say something then stopped. "What else are you carrying?"

"Flour, corn meal, salt, coffee, tea, sugar, and other odds and ends. Why?" He asked, still not sure about us.

"We'll buy all that and maybe some of your other goods, but before we do that I have to ask do you have any slaves with you?"

"One of the merchants is carrying some slaves to Santa Fe to sell."

"Well that would be a bad idea."

"Why's that?"

"Owning a slave in Santa Fe is punishable by death."

The man's eyes went wide, "But the Governor?"

"Is dead and we set up the new government. Let's go talk to your slave man." I turned and looked at Red Hawk. He nodded and whistled up "forward" and six hundred troops advanced on the wagons in front of us. "Call him out here." I told the man.

He called the man's name and a fat pompous man came waddling out with a bare footed twelve year old slave girl holding an umbrella. I felt my anger swelling up but Red Hand laid a hand on my shoulder to calm me, "Thanks Dad I needed that." The wagon master stared at both of us when I called him dad. I got off of Jack and walked over to the man.

"How may I help you sir? Do you perhaps need something to play with?" He reached over and touched the young girls face.

I wanted to take my Katana and cut his fucking arms off and beat him to death with them. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, "How many slaves do you have?"

"Well sir I have twenty five but only twenty maybe twenty three that I would part with," he smiled; it just made me want to heave.

"I was telling your wagon master that things have changed in Santa Fe. Slavery has been abolished."

"What idiot did that!" he demanded.

"I guess that would be me." My anger had to have a vent so I swept the fat bastards legs and watched as his ass hit the ground like a sack of shit. I reached down and started taking off his shoes and socks. "Yep, owning slaves is punishable by death, and did you know that there were some of those people that told me that they would give up their slaves over their dead bodies? Can you believe that?" I waited for his answer, "Well can you believe that?"

"Yes," his voice had fear in it, "I can believe that. What happened to them?"

"Oh, well I killed them of course. What choice did I have? How do you feel about freeing your slaves?"

"FFFine," he was making no effort to get up.

"You sure? I mean if you'd rather keep them I sure don't mind killing you." I stopped and made like I was thinking real hard, "If I let you go you'll probably get some more slaves won't you?" He nodded his head and I started shaking mine until he started shaking his. "You'll live a lot longer if you don't enslave any one else, and to prove my point you are now my slave." I turned to the young girl, "What is your name young lady?"

"Amy, master," she replied with her eyes looking down.

"Amy," I bent down to her level and lifted her chin up so I could look into her eyes, "Sweetie you don't have a master any more, you're free. Now the first thing we need to do is get you some shoes. Someone whistle up the Pied Piper." A few minutes later Tommy was there smiling as always, "Tommy, can you go find Amy some proper clothes and shoes?"

"Yes Sir!" Tommy saluted and offered his arm to the girl, "Right this way Miss Amy."

"What should I do with this, sir?" Amy had the umbrella holding it out to me.

"Take it with you; this fat bastard doesn't need it." She left arm in arm with Tommy, the umbrella over her shoulder. It wasn't a parasol but it had the same effect.

We set up camp and I had my new slave show me where his stuff used to be. Marie and Elizabeth got together with the different merchants and started buying their goods. When it was all said and done we had bought or traded for everything except the whisky. We told them we would just as soon they didn't sell it to the Native Americans. As Red Hawk put it, we couldn't stop them but we might kill them if they did. The merchant that owned the whiskey thought he could take it back to Missouri and sell it. We thanked him.

The next morning they fell in with us on the way back to Missouri. My new slave was a broke but more humble man spending a day with no shoes taught him just a little bit of how things had been for his slaves. Among his slaves was a sixteen year old girl named Mia. I knew as soon as I saw her I was in trouble, Mia was lighter skinned than Sam but her lips and hair told what her background was. When I first saw her Jana was with me and we walked over to her. I asked her name, she looked at the ground and answered. I lifted her chin and when I did I couldn't turn loose. Her chin held my hand like a magnet, her eyes met mine and at first she was afraid. I reached up with my other hand and touched the other side of her beautiful face. I couldn't stop myself; my lips got closer and closer until they met her's. Then it was like my other wives, it felt as though our hearts and souls were exchanged. As we kissed her arms came up and she embraced me; she was frightened at first, but the longer we kissed the stronger she got. I could feel her giving up the pain and the humiliation and embracing the love that I was offering. When we broke the kiss we both collapsed, "Mia would you join our marriage?"

"Tom, she will want to meet the rest before she answers," Jana said.

Mia was shaking her head, "No, if you will have me Tom I will gladly join you."

She didn't have to wait long. Beth, Prissy, Sam, Fran, and Mae were standing there looking down as we sat on the ground. "Mia, These are Beth, Prissy, Sam, Fran, who is Jana's sister and last, but not least, Mae." They helped us up and the hugging and kissing began in earnest. Before the hen party broke out I held up my hand, "Ladies! Mia do you have any belongings?"

"I used to have a locket that my mother gave me but Mr. Allen took it from me." Mia's eyes clouded with tears thinking of her mother.

Allen was standing nearby so I walked over to him, 'Where's the locket you stole from her?" the man was still deathly afraid of me, and well he should be. He went into his wagon and came out carrying a small wooden chest. He opened it and there along with lots of other odds and ends, things he had stolen from other slaves, was the locket. I opened it and got the biggest surprise, Mia's mother was white. "Where is this woman now?"

"In St. Jo, I sold her to a Mr. Black. Why?"

I didn't answer him just took the locket and started to leave, "If any of that stuff belongs to any of the people you freed today get it to them right now. Understand?"

Allen nodded his head and ran off presumably to give the stuff back. I walked up to Mia and put the locket around her neck. "Mia I'm going to try to get your mom back ok?" Mia wrapped her arms around me and cried. It was just one more thing for Mr. Black to answer to.



-------

Chapter 12

The second wagon train was just over ten miles away when we made camp the next night. We decided to, as the saying goes, catch them with their pants down. We left at midnight and approached using our new night vision glasses. We took their guards down without deadly force and infiltrated the camp. When they woke up the next morning they had a big surprise.

Unlike the train a couple of days ago this train had twenty five of the false bottomed wagons and once again the wagon master was unaware. We did get to meet another of the governor's good friends. They were very distraught to learn of his demise and even more distraught to learn that we were freeing their slaves and the ten young ladies that had been promised husbands. One of the young ladies told us that Mr. Fitzroy had forced her father to send her because he owed him money. Mr. Fitzroy was a total bastard but as much as I wanted to shoot him he never gave me one excuse.

These wagons had more RPGs, mortar rounds, 40mm grenades, M4s and six wagons with no false bottoms but full of 5.56 ammo. Fitzroy also had ten slaves, all female ages sixteen to twenty. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what they were going to do with them. We gave the members of this wagon train the option of going on to Santa Fe on horses or go back to Missouri and most everyone elected to go back. There were six families that had joined for protection. When they heard that we were headed west next spring they asked to join us.

One family was particularly interesting. Two brothers had married two sisters back in Delaware. The older brother had drowned crossing a river. Three nights after they had joined us Jacob "call me Jake" Klein and his wife Ann and her sister Sally walked up to our wagon after supper and after introductions were made Jake wanted to know if he could ask some personal questions. He wanted to know about the plural marriages, ours in particular, "Come on Jake let's go for a walk."

Jake and I chatted and as we walked he told me about his wife and sister in law. And I told him the trials, tribulations, and pure joy of living and loving seven wonderful women. He asked how we were accepted so I explained the Comanche's thoughts on marriage. He was surprised to learn that plural marriages were more the norm in the Band than not.

Jake was quiet for a good bit so we had started walking back, "One of your wives is an Indian and another negress. How much trouble has that caused you?"

"Well in the Band the colour of your skin doesn't matter. We try to judge men and women alike by their heart and their deeds." When we got back to wagon Ann and Sally were sitting with a very beautiful young lady that I recognised as one of Fitzroy's former slaves. Jake's question made a lot more sense

When we walked up Ann jumped up and ran to Jake, "Oh Jake we have to stay with these people! There is so much freedom here and Martha can join us as well. We asked her if she'd like to join our marriage and she's excited but doesn't believe it's possible."

As we walked the final few feet to our camp Sally and Martha stood and looked to Jake. He reached down and took Ann's hand and the two of them walked up to Sally and Martha. He dropped Ann's hand and with both arms pulled both of the women into his embrace. They left our camp four very happy people with plans to be married at sunrise in the morning.

-------

The next morning dawned and the Klein's wedding was put to the side. Sometime after midnight, Matthew Q. Fitzroy had bound and gagged his wife Isabella and ran off to warn Mr. Black. It took less than six hours to find the worthless son of a bitch. Since we were about where the wagons would stop for the night I decided that Matthew must know more about Mr. Black than he had let on. Sure enough he did. Mr. Fitzroy filled in many holes before he passed away. We dumped his naked body in a gully.

We were less than a day away from Ft. Larned in what in my time was Kansas when three of the former slaves that were scouting were taken prisoner as run away slaves. As soon as we got word of their capture Red Hawk ordered the reserve company to stay with the wagons and try to make the fort today if possible. We assembled seven companies of cavalry and Robert's artillery company. This was basically every remaining able bodied person we had. Robert had the two field pieces and the Gatling gun off loaded from the wagon that they normally rode in and hooked them up to their caissons. Robert and Moses had also built caissons and two wheel platforms for the two fifty cal. and the HK MGM's by cannibalizing broken and damaged wagons. Robert's company also maintains four wagons that carry extra ammunition for all of us.

Just over seven hundred of us left for the fort at a trot. At three in the afternoon we rode into sight of the fort and the surrounding town. We deployed two Companies to cover our flanks, and sent our commandos to position themselves where they could take the fort. We moved the remainder of our troops to a point where the town was within range of the two field pieces and the mortars. Robert deployed his people and set up his mortars, cannons, and the two fifty cals. It didn't take long for them to send some one to find out what we wanted. The Post Commandant, the mayor, and the town sheriff, the very man who was holding our people against their will, rode out to talk to us.

The Post Commandant eyed the troops with fear and envy as he stopped in front of Red Hawk, Two Horses, and me, "What is the meaning of this?"

He had directed the question towards me, I pointed to Red Hawk and he pointed to the Sheriff as the man who the squad leader had described. "That man is holding three of our people, you have one hour to return them unharmed along with their horses and weapons."

The sheriff's face went red with rage, "They're fuckin' niggers and run aways at that and you'll get them over my dead body."

Red Hawk turned and looked at me as I pulled my pistol and shot the bastard. As he fell off of his horse Red Hawk turned to the Commandant, "Were there any other conditions that need to be met before we get our people back?"

"Can I assume that you will attack if we don't?" the Mayor asked.

Red Hawk whistled and Robert's company walked five HE (high explosive) mortar rounds down each side of the double rutted trail that led back to town. When the last rounds hit, "If we don't have our people in one hour starting right now we will start shelling your town and fort until the only building still standing is the place where you are holding our people and we know where they are. If you decide to harm them then we will not leave even one adult alive when we're finished, do you understand?"

The Commandant turned to the Mayor "Is the next person that you're going to appoint to be Sheriff going to want to keep this ... this Army's scouts?"

"I can promise you they're not," the mayor replied.

The Commandant turned to Red Hawk, "Sir, would you like to send an honour guard into town to retrieve your men?"

Red Hawk whistled for an honour guard. Newly appointed Company Commander Maggie Mills and ten troopers left her Company and rode toward him. When she stopped she saluted with her fist across her chest, "Company Commander Mills reporting for honour guard duty, sir"

"Go get our men please but do not enter their town," Maggie saluted Red Hawk and turned and let loose a series of whistles. A trooper came forward and tilted the rolled and cased flag he was carrying. Maggie reached for the end of the flag and pulled the protecting cover off of the flag allowing the brightly coloured flag to unfurl. The mayor jumped as over four hundred men and women came to attention and saluted.

"Jesus, Joseph, and Mary," the Commandant breathed. A sudden flurry of whistles and suddenly the Commandant and the Mayor were facing the drawn pistols of the honour guard as well as the rest of the front rank of the Company he was facing. "What just happened?"

Red Hawk's face was one of pure hate, "We just got word that our three men are hurt." Red Hawk turned to me, "What did they say?"

I pulled out a mirror and flashed it towards the town. We all watched as a similar series of flashes came from the edge of town I spoke in Comanche as the signals came in and Red Hawk translated, "Troopers Brown, Buffalo, and Sampson badly beaten. Team has recovered their guns, horses, and uniforms. Personal effects are missing. Troops from fort are setting up an ambush with the aid of the townspeople. End of transmission awaiting orders."

"That's that hare brained Lt. Hayes. His father is a Senator from New York. He's been trying to take over my command ever since he got here," the Commandant spat.

Red Hawk turned to me, "Signal All Companies advance, fire only if fired upon." Turning to the Mayor and the Commandant, "Come on let's go see how badly beaten our people are and if you think any of those people feel compelled to shoot at us you need to realise that the people behind me are less than half of the troops that we have at our disposal." Red Hawk pointed to the north and the company advancing on the small town. Then he pointed to the south and finally to the east. "We do not want any trouble but hear this, any of your people start something we will finish it. And if the seven hundred troops that we have here aren't enough there are two more companies with our wagon train and they will be here tonight."

Red Hawk whistled advance, "Capt. Mills, stay here. If something happens you know what to do." Red Hawk saluted the Captain and spurred his horse to catch up with the front of the column.

They had abandoned the ambush when the rest of our troops were sighted. Now as we rode into the town, the townsfolk stood on both sides of the street and stared. The town was not all that big and by the time our troops had ridden in from north, south, east and west the streets were filled with armed men and women. Lt. Hayes had fled for the fort when he found out how large the force really was. I got my medical kit and went to check on our men. I took one look and almost threw up. They had been whipped until their backs were a bloody pulp. I heard Red Hawk and the Commandant asking who beat our men. There was a lot of yelling and name calling from the deputies. I drew up three syringes full of Demerol with a Phenergan chaser to help with the nausea. Normally I'd give IM or intramuscular but there wasn't a big enough area of muscle that didn't look like hamburger meat. I went ahead and put an IV in and used three bags of my precious IV antibiotics and injected the Demerol cocktail into the IV. Jana and Fran had been helping me, "Go," Fran ordered, "we'll keep and eye on them."

I walked to the front of the building and when I walked out, Red Hawk, the Mayor and the Commandant had the Sheriff's three men and were arguing with them. Red Hawk held up his hand when I walked out, "How bad is it Tom?"

"We could lose them if infection sets in, at the very least they are going to be laid up for weeks."

"What should we do with these men?" Red Hawk asked.

I pulled out my O katana, "Tie ropes around their hands and stretch them out. I'm not cruel enough to give them a whipping like they gave our men but I damn sure don't mind fixing them where they'll never hold another whip."

The biggest of the men was looking back and forth, "You can't do that," he turned to the Commandant and dropped to his knees, "please don't let them cut off our hands. We had to do it the Sheriff made us. Please mister."

"Don't beg me," the Commandant spat, "these are the people you wronged." The Commandant looked to Red Hawk, "There is plenty of room for your people to camp up by the fort. And if you don't mind I'll have my men lock these yahoos up till you decide what to do with them."

Two soldiers took the three deputies back into the jail and locked them up.

Red Hawk extended his hand and shook hands with the Commandant, "Thank you. Our wagons should be here," Red Hawk paused and turned to Fanny who pulled the leather satchel over her head and handed it to him. Red Hawk opened the case and removed the paper from inside, "Two hours, they should be here in two hours." Red Hawk took a pencil out and wrote a brief message on it and handed it to Fanny, "Get that to Capt. Mills right away."

Fanny saluted, "Yes Sir!" She stuck the message into the satchel and put the strap over her head and took the reins of her horse. Fanny made a little kissing sound and the horse dipped his head down. When she grabbed a handful of mane and whistled loudly, the horse bolted almost violently but it was a long practiced move for horse and rider she was in the saddle and fanning the reins as she shouted, "Rider coming through!"

The Commandant smiled, "I don't suppose I could swap aides with you could I?"

Red Hawk smiled back and shook his head, "Thank you. Mr. Mayor I think I need to clear your streets." Red Hawk let loose with a series of whistles which began to echo back and forth as squads joined Companies. "Do you have a particular place for us to put our horses Commandant?"

The Commandant turned to soldier standing near by, "Show them the Cottonwood grove. They can picket their horses there." The soldier saluted and grabbed his horse and started riding out of town.

A man ran up to the mayor, "There's a huge heard of cattle and horses going around the town.

"Is that some of your bunch Red Hawk?" the Mayor asked.

"Yes that would be our herd. Do you know of anyone that has cattle for sale?"

"I'll pass the word, are you looking for beef cattle or..." A woman screamed from across the street and moments later a man ran up, "It's Timmy Jacobs, he was trying to see the herd better and fell! He's hurt real bad."

Red Hawk turned to me, "Tom get your kit."

I stuck my head in the jail, "Jana grab my bag and come on, a boy is hurt." I hadn't much more than got it out of my mouth and she was there and we ran across the street to find the boy. Red Hawk had got there quickly and wouldn't let them move him but the Commandant had to restrain the mother.

Jana was well trained by now, skills honed by dozens of accidents along the trail. It was obvious that the boy's leg was broken and he may have had a concussion albeit a very slight one. The boy was screaming from the pain and after making sure the leg was the worst of it I gave him a shot. In a few minutes the boy was out like a light. I set the leg and was looking around for some way to carry the boy when two of our troopers showed up with one of the stretchers we'd made. They helped me get the boy on the stretcher and I turned to the mother, "Ma'am I need to put a cast on that leg and I won't have the stuff until our wagon gets here."

"Are you a doctor?" the mayor asked.

"As close as we have to one." I could see Jana about to speak and shook my head.

"Mr. Dunlap I would be happy to have you and your wife over to my house for supper."

I was about to reply when the Commandant spoke up, "Mayor I had already invited Red Hawk and his officers and wives, why don't you and your wife join us."

I looked at Red Hawk and raised my eye brows, "Have you... ?" Red Hawk grinned and nodded.

Fanny walked up to Red Hawk and saluted, "Sir the wagons are here and they have been given directions to the camp site."

"Thank you Fanny would you go and get Beth to bring her wagon here? Tom needs some of his medical supplies, and after that the officers and their wives will dine at the fort. To keep the numbers down, make it Company commanders and members of the council. Get an exact number and see to it that the Commandant is informed."

Fanny saluted, "Yes Sir!"

"She's just a little girl," the mother of the boy with the broke leg complained.

Red Hawk turned to the woman, "That little girl has killed two men in battle. She spends ten hours a week training and twenty to thirty hours a week studying. She's not a little girl she is a very brave young woman."

A little later I heard Beth pull up out front of the house and went around to meet her, "Hello my beautiful wife," I reached up to help the now very pregnant Beth and the just starting to show Prissy. Mae had been in the back of the wagon gathering the plaster and bandages needed to make the cast. I turned to the two troopers, "I'll grab these two saw horses, you two take the boy through to the kitchen."

I set the saw horses up and the troopers set the stretcher on them and I dismissed them. Jana finished cutting the boy's pants off. The boy's mother watched as my wives moved with practiced ease getting everything ready. She was pulled from her trance when Sam knocked on the front door of the house, "Is my husband here?" Sam asked the woman.

"We're back here Sam," I called out.

"Mr Dunlap which of these women is your wife because I thought she was," she pointed to Jana.

"Well ma'am let me introduce my wives to you, this is Jana, Beth, Prissy, Mae, that's Mia cutting up the strips and this is Sam. Fran is down at the jail taking care of the men that were beaten." I was interrupted by someone else knocking at the door. The stunned woman returned with Fran, "That's Fran. How are the guys doing?"

"Red Hawk and the Commandant moved them to Lt. Hayes" quarters at the fort. They're resting but Sampson's wife showed up. Boy howdy is she ever pissed! I hope they have at least five squads guarding those deputies cause she is ready for some one to pay. Trooper's Brown and Buffalo's wives are upset, but they can't hold a candle to that Pawnee's rage." Fran had just noticed the stunned look on the boy's mother's face, "Ma'am are you alright?"

"So many and you two aren't white," the woman seemed to be in a daze.

"My heart doesn't know what colour they are. By the way while I have all of you together we have been invited to dine with the Commandant." Mia was sliding the muslin stocking on to the boy's leg. It got busy after that as we layered the cloth strips and plaster on to the boy's leg. An hour later it was all done and Jana and I moved the boy's bed down out of the upstairs and into the living area

"Oh dear!" The boy's mother suddenly got very agitated, "Doctor I..." she reached up to her neck and took off a locket from around her neck, "this is all I have to pay you with I..." tears started streaming down her face.

"You don't owe me anything. Ma'am, where's your husband, the boy's father?" The water works really took off then. Boy howdy was that ever the wrong question to ask. Fran had her arm around the woman trying to comfort her. I got that 'you've done quite enough' look so I decided that I'd go do something constructive, "I'll take the wagon and go set up camp." Jana, Mae, Beth, and Mia came with me to make sure I didn't make any more grievous errors.

Fran and company returned an hour or so later and announced that Jenna would be leaving with us when we left. In keeping with the pattern I had established for the day, "Jenna?"

"Jenna Jacobs the boy with the broke leg," Fran stared at me like my ears had grown together, "his mother."

I nodded my head. I had had my foot in my mouth a sufficient number of times already today. Besides the scenery around our camp was very different tonight as the girls got ready to dine with the Commandant. My mind went back to that night in Santa Fe when my ladies had all dressed up. I knew that the original wives had fancy dress gowns but I wasn't any too sure what Mia and Mae were going to do. My questions were answered when the two wives in question stepped out of the wagon.

Not one of my wives is hard on the eyes but there is just something about a woman in a fancy dress especially if you're use to seeing them in buckskins all the time. Mia was wearing a red dress that showed off that beautiful body that I had enjoyed playing with on the many nights since she had joined us. I was still drinking in Mia's lovely form when Mae stepped out and for a minute I forgot to breathe.

The dress was a bright blue that brought out the colour of her eyes. It was cut low to show off her milk white complexion but high enough in the back to cover the scars left by those lowlife bastards. Those scars would be forgotten tonight. All my ladies looked absolutely stunning.

Having just two arms and seven ladies vying for a place on those arms could lead to trouble. However the girls had got together and worked out a compromise. Fran had recently joined Beth in anticipating motherhood so it was decided that Fran and Beth would be on my arms and the others would follow us. So that's how we were arranged when we walked into the large room the Commandant had set up for the nights festivities. When we walked through the door Fanny was standing beside a big red headed sergeant. Fanny held up her hand to stop us while she whispered back and forth with the sergeant with a few giggles mixed in. Finally the Sergeant took a deep breath and announced in a booming voice, "Dr. Thomas Jefferson Dunlap member of the ruling council and his wives, Beth, Fran, Jana, Prissy, Sam, Mia, and Mae." The sergeant winked at me and in a deep Irish brogue that had been missing during the introduction, "Ye must be one hell of a man sor." He smiled and greeted each of my wives as we moved towards the greeting line.

The Commandant put on a pretty good meal and the conversation seemed to focus on our system of government. The council began as a departmental method of taking care of problems. When there was less than one hundred it was very efficient, but as we have grown, some of the problems with that system have cropped up. We even discussed a representative style government but the need for having people who knew what they were doing overcame any desire for popularity based bureaucracy. In the end the members carved up their departments and had people answering to them. There were surprisingly few complaints that made it as far as the council.

The young lieutenant who had wanted to ambush us thought our letting women fight was insane and vowed he could best any of them in a real battle. He had been particularly spiteful towards Maggie, whether it was because she was our highest ranking female or if it was to spite Robert, but he was making quite an ass of himself.

The Commandant had a pretty nice sand table in the corner of the large room where we were dining. Robert recruited some help and moved it away from the wall and set up the battle that Maggie had masterminded that resulted in capturing a wagon train with no losses on our side. Lt. Hayes was given the problem and asked to solve it.

His answer was to attack the train in the open. When informed that his way would have resulted in the deaths of all of his soldiers he scoffed and asked how we would have done it. Maggie stepped forward and started showing how she had forced the train to go into her trap with out raising their suspicions. She then went over assigning a number to each wagon and two snipers to each guard. Lt. Hayes flatly refused to believe that the battle had occurred as we described. I smiled, "Lt. Hayes what would you do if I called you a liar?"

"Why Sir I would demand satisfaction from you," he stated quite bluntly.

"Well you have just called each and every one of us a liar. What should we do?" I smiled as the young lieutenant paled at what he had just done. I noticed that the Commandant had some miniature soldiers for use on the board. I smoothed the sand table flat, "Maggie use the toys and deploy your company using the horns of the bull that I taught you."

Maggie went to work setting the toy soldiers up, "Now Lt. Hayes here's the problem. Maggie is commanding a force of one hundred men and women you have to defeat her and get through her position."

"Very well where and how many women are in your company?" he asked with more than a little disdain.

Maggie smiled, her company was very evenly split, "There are forty five women in my company and they are here on this table the white soldiers where the red are men."

Lt. Hayes studied the table for a minute while setting his soldiers up directly in front of the female troopers, choosing to ignore the men on either side.

"Begin your attack Lt. Hayes." I watched as Lt. Hayes moved his men forward in mass at the centre of Maggie's line. Maggie began moving the female troopers on the table backwards as Lt. Hayes whooped with joy at her retreat. When she got to her spot, she collapsed the flanks in on top of Lt. Hayes' troops and it would have been at that point the slaughter would have begun.

The Commandant laughed out loud and openly derided Lt. Hayes for falling into such an obvious trap, "Well now, Lt. Hayes how do you feel about her abilities now?"

"Well it would seem at least in the case of this ambush she quite capable of killing men without giving them a chance to fight back."

Maggie was livid and Red Hawk had to physically hold Robert to keep him from doing something we might all regret. I did not miss the look on the Commandant's face as he turned to Maggie, "Lt. Hayes is a petty, small minded child. His comments just now prove to me that he is unfit for command. A fact I would rather learn here than with the men under my command."

Lt. Hayes' face was red with rage. I'm not sure what would have happened if not for Fanny coming forward carrying a courier satchel and handing Red Hawk a letter. Red Hawk read the dispatch and then handed it to Two Horses who read it uttering a curse in Comanche, but one that was well understood by all. He handed me the letter as Fanny was handing Red Hawk a report from the scouts.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later." I stated handing the letter towards Broken Knife only to have it snatched out of my hand by Lt. Hayes.

The Commandant looked like he was going to explode as Lt. Hayes handed the letter to Broken Knife, "It's just gibberish any way."

"It's Comanche you jerk." I turned to Red Hawk "Have the scouts found a place for an ambush?"

Red Hawk shook his head, "Fifty wagons one hundred men with M-4 rifles and all open or mostly open country between us and them."

"That just leaves a few options but we need to start hitting them now. Have the squads that are in contact with them snipe at them day and night don't let them rest. By the time we get there in force hopefully they'll not have the stomach for taking on the rest of us." I had watched as Fanny wrote down the essence of what I had said.

Red Hawk was watching as well, he told her to write that they were not to take unnecessary risks but to hit the enemy hard and often but without a pattern. Red Hawk looked up from where Fanny was finishing the message and whistled. Fanny finished the letter putting the proper code words at the beginning and end. She handed it to Red Hawk who signed it and handed it to me along with the pencil. I signed it and handed it back to Fanny who folded it and put it in a satchel and we all walked outside.

A young boy of twelve or maybe thirteen that I knew only as Robert, one of the over one hundred and fifty freed slaves, slid his horse to a stop and saluted. Red Hawk took the satchel from Fanny and handed it to the boy. "Take this to the next rider, the column will be following at first light."

The young man put the strap of the satchel over his head slammed his fist across his chest, "For my Band, my family," he spun his horse and put his heel to its flanks. He left the fort at a full gallop riding into the night.

Red Hawk turned to the Commandant, "My..." he leaned down and whispered something to Fanny who stood on tip toes to whisper something back to him. "My apologies Commandant we need to get ready to leave."

"I understand completely. Sir if I may be so bold I would like to come with you and bring some of my..." He looked around, " ... better officers to observe." The Commandant's face wore a hopeful look about it as he waited for Red Hawk's answer.

Red Hawk looked at me to see if I had any concerns. When I indicated that I didn't care, Red Hawk turned to the Commandant, "Please, be ready to move at first light. May we have a short meeting here in your room?"

"Yes of course," the Commandant replied.

We went back into the room where we had eaten and Red Hawk started with the Council, "Is there anything that we need to do before the wagons can follow?" He asked each department head.

All but Moses Brown was ready to leave right then, "Sir weez gots six wagons that needed mo' fixin' than we could gets done today, but ifin I knows my men Sir theyz been under them wagons as soon as they heard that whistle. Ifin theyz not ready to roll by in the morn'in and they be needin more than a half day more to fix em we just leave em here," Moses explained.

Red Hawk dismissed the Council members and they left to make sure their people would know who went where in the morning. We had a quick meeting with the Company commanders and then everybody headed out to get ready for a very long day on the heels of a nonexistent night.

My lovelies were out of their fancy dresses and back into their buckskins. I did manage to get two hours of sleep before Red Hand slapped the canvas of the wagon making some comment about being tangled up in the gown tails of my many wives.

When I joined Red Hawk that next morning I learned we had gained eight more families, twenty newly freed slaves, and five orphans. Three of the families were of men who had resigned from the army. Lt. George Brinton McClellan and his wife Nelly had decided to go with us, which made me wonder who was going to promote the saddle that most of us were riding and who would command the Army of the Potomac when the Civil War came along. With the McClellan's were the big redheaded sergeant O'Riley and his wife Bess and their two kids Danny and Margaret Mary, and the last and biggest surprise defector from the Army was the Commandant and his new wife Annie. They were fervent antislavery but unlike many that held that view they also believed in equality and that was a view not found outside the Band. They had worked all night packing their meagre belongings into three wagons that they bought surplus from the Army. When I asked the Commandant just grinned and said, "The paper work is all in order and that's all the Army cares about."

I also recognised a former patient among the new folks, Timmy Jacobs and his mom Jenna had asked if they might join the Band. Membership in the Band was now and always had been very simple, if you could treat every man, woman, and child as if they were your brother or sister then you could join. And, as Tommy was always first to point out, we specialised in widows and orphans.

Since there were no good ambush sites between Ft. Larned and the men we were after, we decided to travel at our normal pace and not wear out our mounts. We did send additional squads to harass and attack. The reports we were getting back were encouraging. The first attack was led by Josh Jones' and White Wolf's squads.

Josh had watched the wagon train until he had received his orders. As soon as he had them He and White Wolf got into position and cut the wagons of innocents including the slaves out and led them to safety. By the time the wagon master missed them he would be dead and the others had too much on their minds to worry about a bunch of farmers.

Josh gambled that they would not send all one hundred men after a couple of 'Indians' taking pot shots at the train. They used a .54 caliber Hawken to shoot a man they had identified as the wagon train boss. They fired at the maximum range of the rifle and then the two troopers sans shirts beat a noisy retreat. The man in charge of the men with the M-4s sent ten men to try and kill the two 'Indians'. Three miles from the main wagon train those ten men were shot to doll rags. After they didn't come back the man in charge of the men with the M-4s didn't send his men after any more 'Indians'. He was shot the next day in the first sniper attack.

Josh and White Wolf varied their tactics. One night in the dark of a new moon men all through the train woke up to find the man sleeping on either side of him with his throat slit and a note laying beside him telling him death awaits everyone on this wagon train. That's when the desertions started and since some of the deserters were the men carrying the M-4s Josh had to get an extra squad to ensure the M-4s didn't get away. Everyday the men suffered from the sniper attacks. Six snipers using the M-24 'Kate' killed men around the clock. We forced them to stop early enough in the day that they could fix their supper and put out their fires so that we wouldn't have light to silhouette them by. Mr. Black had not given these men any night vision equipment, but our people had them.

By the fifth night of attacks Maggie's squad had joined and they were down to forty of the one hundred and so many of the fifty drivers and guards had been killed the mounted men had to pick up the reins of the wagons and tie their horses on behind. If they were frightened by what the Kate's left behind on the fifth night the Barrett was turned loose on them. From the top of a hill Zoë Polk watched and carefully lined up her shot. When she pulled the trigger the armour piercing fifty caliber bullet went through eight drivers before embedding in the ninth. The next morning found that the drivers had managed to put themselves on guard duty and they had stolen some of the many spare horses and ridden off. They now didn't have enough drivers to drive all of their wagons. They took and tied wagons together and they managed to get going, but their nerves were frayed.

That's the shape they were in when, after six days of harassment, we lined up and let them see seven hundred mounted troops. They stopped to discuss what they were going to do. That's when two mortar rounds at maximum distance cratered the road behind the last wagon, white flags popped out all along the line of wagons. Some of the men broke down and started crying and three simply lay down on the ground and went to sleep. It was stark testimony to the hell they had been put through day and night for the last six days. I hated to think how I would feel if it had been me and mine that had gone through the last six days. They had left with two hundred and twenty men, ten slaves, five girls headed for nonexistent husbands, and twenty families who had sought the protection of the large number of armed men. Now all that was left was twenty five tired broken men.

Josh, White Wolf, Maggie, and their troopers would get new ribbons to be embroidered on their buckskins. For two troopers it would be their last battle. One, a boy known to us all as Pockets, he was one of the orphans that Tommy had found in Santa Fe. He caught a 5.56mm round in the stomach. White Wolf had given him some of the medicine, morphine that I had insisted all the squads carry. It had eased his suffering. They had buried him on the banks of a creek under a cottonwood. It was a good place for a warrior to rest. His last words had been, "Give my buckskins to Red Hawk and tell him thank you, he was the only man that didn't turn me away," He squeezed White Wolf's hand, "You have been like a father and a brother to me, tell my other brothers and sisters that I love them," The next night was particularly bloody for the men on the wagon train.

The other Trooper to die had been Cindy Gaston. She dived in front of Josh and took a bullet meant for him. Cindy died in his arms saying, "For the Band." Cindy was one of the first girls we had rescued from the Van der Wahl's whore house, she was red headed and had a temper that even she was afraid of. We had two more names to be read on the day of tears. Once again our troopers showed their mettle and as we sat around the big fire and told the stories of Pockets and Cindy the new people learned about the legends of the three honoured dead.

The next morning while every member of the Band was gathered we had the service for Cindy and Pockets. The two Squad leaders came forward, since Pockets had died first White Wolf began, "Trooper Pockets has gone ahead. He joins Trooper Morgan in constant vigil." White Wolf walked over to Red Hawk and handed him Pockets' buckskins, "He asked me to give you these. He said that you were the first man not to turn him away." White Wolf turned and faced all of the members of the band, "With his last breath he asked me to tell you, his brothers and sisters, that he loved you, he loved you all." The proud Comanche warrior retreated back to his squad where eight hands reached to touch him but it was only the ninth that he felt, the one that wasn't there.

I don't know how Red Hawk felt but for me once again one of our own showed that what we were doing had to be the right thing.

Josh Jones walked forward with tears streaming down his face, "Trooper Cindy Gaston has gone on ahead. She joins Troopers Morgan and Pockets in constant vigil." Josh walked over to a group of girls, "You were her friends. She left instructions that you were to get her buckskins. I'm very sorry for your loss." Josh turned and faced the rest of the Band, "I shouldn't be here today. The bullet that killed Cindy was aimed at me, she pushed me out of the way and saved my life." Josh dropped to his knees and stared at the sky, "Cindy, I will do all I can to honour the debt I owe to you. I will try to be worthy of the sacrifice that you made. You will ride in my heart forever. Cindy's last words were, "For the Band." Josh collapsed right where he was, his squad came forward and helped him to his feet.

There wasn't a dry eye to be found. I looked at Red Hawk and watched as he mouthed, "I don't understand it." I knew just what he meant. We had pulled together four different races, many were society's throwaways, and put them together. Somehow and somewhere they had found a sense of belonging, a sense of community, and now three different times they had shown that they would gladly die for it. It made me proud to be a part of it all. I left the gathering that morning like a lot of others, standing a little straighter, walking with a little more pride.



-------

Chapter 13

After the ceremony we hit the trail. It was cloudy and overcast but we pushed on though it spit rain all day. We still had squads out scouting and one squad was protecting the wagons and freed slaves that we had separated from this last train. Among the wagons that we captured was the now usual twentieth century weapons, medicines, and tools. One of these wagons had several bundles of printed flyers.

The flyers were the typical white supremacy crap explaining why the mud people should be enslaved. It reminded me of some of the crap my father used to put out. My father was a bigot and maybe if my mother had 'the same attitude I would have been different. I had so little contact with my father that I boxed my moral compass based on my mother's beliefs. I had often wondered why someone as open minded as my mother would have ever been attracted to my father. I guess I would have to ask her sometime.

Sam started the morning by heaving her guts out. I have to tell you I laughed this morning, not at her being sick, but when she wiped her mouth on the sleeve of her buckskins and then looked at me with this doe eyed love look it was funny. Did I laugh out loud? With seven wives you bet your sweet ass I didn't.

Fifth day on the trail since the ceremony; Sam has been sick a couple of times but she's not as bad as some women. We found a good use for the flyers. There is something very satisfying about wiping your ass with all those lies. We have torn them into strips and we bury our waste so we aren't too worried about anyone reading any of them.

We caught up with the wagons that Josh had cut out this afternoon. We gathered the folks together and gave them the basic spiel of what the Band was about. It went about the way it always did. The former slaves stared in open mouthed wonder and disbelief at how one day they are on the same level as animals as far as rights go and the next they have every right their former male masters had save one, they couldn't enslave another human being. Women fell in two categories: open praise and abject fear. We had learned that some men required a bit of remediation before they would accept women much less slaves as equals. In the short history of the band only two men had needed a more lasting behaviour modification. We were about to meet numbers three, four, and five.

Mitch Taylor and his two brothers, Dean and Russ, began their opposition to their women being anything but chattel by an expletives filled tirade the likes of which I had never seen nor heard and considering my father, that was saying something. Included in this verbal barrage was the 'n' word followed by the biblical reasoning for their enslavement.

That particular tack had been tried once before. Moses Brown and his band of multiracial wagon fixers and blacksmiths had shown the man the error of his thinking. I know this since in my roll as healer I had had to patch the miscreant up after their discussion on the merits of slavery and women's rights, biblical and otherwise. It had taken the gentleman more than two months to fully recover from his painful erroneous opinions and according to his wife he was now the very model of what a Band husband should be. She had even rewarded his good behaviour by asking another female to join their marriages. But it was pretty obvious that the Taylor brothers were not going to change their minds so their fates had been determined at a council meeting. They either guessed at the verdict or someone leaked it which was unlikely. The next morning after they got drunk and they beat the hell out of their wives, the brothers had slipped away in the night. They had been unable to take their women with them and all three were scared to death that the brothers would slip back to camp to steal them away. The beaten and battered Taylor women were very surprised to find out that Two Bears had left with a hunting party to find them.

By the second day on their trail Two Bears knew where they were heading. Two Bears found them setting up to ambush our wagon train. I had just crested a ridge when I heard three shots ring out. I raised the alarm and rode in the direction of the shots. Two Bears was standing over the bodies of the Taylor brothers. Connie Stevens was comforting a young girl that I had never seen before. "What happened?"

Two Bears patted Connie on the back and walked up to me, "They grabbed that girl from a farm just up the valley after they killed her mother and father. They were about to rape her when Zoë spotted them."

Two Bears and I walked over to the bodies, "Where was Zoë when she took the shots?"

Two Bears pointed to a ridge that had to be at least quarter of a mile away, "She's right up there, do you see her?"

"Is she wearing her Ghillie suit?" Two Bears nodded, "I don't know why I'm looking, the last time she was ten feet from me and I didn't know she was there." Two Bears whistled and a bush about half way up the ridge stood up. "I rode right past her."

"Don't feel bad. She does that to me all the time," Two Bears laughed, "She's the sneakiest trooper we have and she's not even an Indian. We'll send a squad to bury the girl's parents and gather up her goods."

We turned to see Connie helping the girl onto her horse. "Let's head back to the wagon train." Red Hawk and my wives rode out to meet us. Christina Anderson, the girl that the brothers grabbed, had told us that she had no other family. My wives took her to see if they could find her a set of buckskins to replace her ruined dress.

Red Hawk and I were riding along at the front of the column discussing Mr. Black, something that meant we had nothing else to talk about, when a squad came riding over the hill coming toward us. I pulled out my binoculars, "It Little Wolf's squad and they have someone with them." We spurred our horses to a lope to see what Little Wolf had found. We had pulled our patrols back because of the increase in population. Having multiple squads roaming the countryside caused the locals to get nervous so now we were only patrolling ten miles out in front of us.

When we met Little Wolf came to attention and saluted, something all of the troopers had started doing a lot more lately. Rumour had it that Maggie had sat down with the Commandant and they had worked up a set of rules and regulations. What ever the truth was, the fact was all of the troopers had a military air about them that would have put the Marines to shame. The nine troopers in Little Wolf's squad had come to attention and saluted as Red Hawk and I stopped our horses in front of Little Wolf. The man with his hands tied to his saddle horn jumped when they came to attention. After Red Hawk and I returned their salutes Little Wolf handed me a satchel, "He's a courier for Mr. Black."

I opened the satchel and pulled out the letter and started to read it. When I finished I had a smile on my face, "Well, Mr. Black has heard rumours of the Comanche uniting. He is going to send one last shipment of arms. They left at the same time that this yahoo did three days ago."

Red Hawk looked at the troopers in Little Wolf's squad, "We better send Josh to check it out."

I was shaking my head, "We're drawing a lot of attention. Word is going to get out about a force the size of ours. I think should we leave two companies with the wagon train and take the train that's coming and then move as fast as we can on Mr. Black."

Red Hawk nodded, "Council meeting tonight," he said and then turned and headed back to the train. We were near a pretty good creek so Red Hawk called for an early end of the days travel and announced the need for a council meeting.

The council met under a cottonwood. Red Hawk deferred to me so I explained what I was worried about. As soon as I sat back down the vote was called for, it was unanimous. Red Hawk went to the centre of the circle and called everyone together. After explaining what the council had decided he asked if anyone had anything else to add. When no one spoke up he called for a moment of silence. The one thing on my mind and I'm sure everyone else's was how many names would join the list of Troopers on constant vigil. Red Hawk dismissed the meeting and Troopers went to prepare for the next day, all praying that they would not be the ones left behind.

When I rode up to Beth's wagon my wives mobbed me. Beth, Sam, Prissy and Fran would have to stay with the wagons since they were pregnant but that didn't mean that they would like it. I knew they weren't going to like it but I asked that they all stay with the wagons. Just as I expected, Jana was in my lap shaking her finger in my face, "If we don't go you'll go and do something foolish. No, some of us are going with you. No arguments!" Then she gave me a toe curling kiss that left me with my buckskins getting tight.

"That's one way to win an argument," I said as I ran my hand up under Jana's blouse to squeeze one of her small firm breasts.

"Don't get her all horny before supper," Beth admonished.

I leaned over and looked at the wet spot already forming on Jana's buckskins, "Too late." I grinned. I stood up, grabbed Jana and threw her over my shoulder, and headed for the wagon. At the ladder I dropped her to the ground, "Up you go." I didn't have to ask her twice. Mae and Mia were right behind me and they scampered into the wagon stripping off buckskins as they went. Jana, Mae and Mia were all safe. One of the things we had found out was that all of the girls that were being sent to the Van der Wahl's whore house had been given birth control implants from my time. When some of the other women in the group found out about them they asked to have them and, since Mr. Black had seen fit to send several cases of the Norplants, there were quite a few women on the train with implants and big smiles. By the time I had followed Mia up the ladder Jana was naked and spread eagle on the bed. I slipped my shirt off and stuck my face in Jana's sex.

Jana's first moan was followed by Beth using her best impression of a snake oil hawker saying, "Popcorn, get your front row seats now," followed by a bunch of giggles.

It only took a few minutes for Jana to pop off. Mae and Mia had removed my pants and a warm wet mouth was busy on my cock. As soon as Jana came I was pushed up on the bed and rolled over on my back. Mia slid her light chocolate brown body down on top of my cock and groaned when she bottomed out. Mae took a seat on my face and I was busy trying to send her to the moon. By the time the four of us had cum once the rest of my wives had stripped off and climbed in bed. Beth moved her very pregnant body up and rubbed my nose with her puffy neither lips. As I wrapped my lips around her extra large clit I ran my hands over Beth's swollen tummy.

We played through supper and as my tummy started growling I was starting to think it had been a bad idea. A "Yoo Hoo!" from outside put us all in a mad scramble for our clothes.

I pulled my pants on and slipped outside, "Hey Mom, Elizabeth."

"When your bunch didn't show for supper we were afraid you'd been Jana'd," Mom said with a laugh.

"Hey, that's mean," Jana complained.

Beth was easing her pregnant body down the ladder, "And who was the first one out of their clothes?" Jana made a 'who me' face and we all laughed.

"Well we brought you some b and b's," Mom sat the Dutch oven full of Buffalo and beans on the grate of our campfire. And Elizabeth handed me a towel covered basket full of biscuits. We fell on the hot food like we were starved. After we had eaten we sat down to talk about who would go and who would stay. In the end there wasn't much to argue over, Beth, Prissy, Fran, and Sam were all pregnant and Mae's ribs were still too tender to spend the time in the saddle that we would be spending. Mia had been practicing hard every day so she could go when the time came to look for her mother. Mia and Jana would go with me and Beth reminded them that they were to take care of me and keep me from doing anything stupid. Jana said she was pretty sure that she would need more help so don't be surprised if they didn't show up with another wife or three. I just put my head in my hands and moaned.

Broken Knife and his wives, Lucy and Marie, walked over and he and I sat down and went over what we knew of Mr. Black's operation. Through interviews with the different drivers we knew that Mr. Black had moved his operation from St. Jo across the river to the Kansas side. Since we really didn't know what the wagon train would be like, so we decided to go ahead and take five companies, the Commando Company, the Artillery Company, and 1st, 3rd, and 5th Horse Companies. There would be some angry Company Commanders but there was just not a way to move eight hundred cavalry three hundred miles without someone getting very excited. The last thing we needed was to have the troops at Ft. Leavenworth get interested in our current operation.

When we had made up our mind I whistled officer's call and five minutes later all the Company commanders were there waiting to hear the good or bad news. I was just about to make the announcement when one of the pickets called out "Rider coming." Over the months that we had been on the trail we had developed a set location for the wagons in the circle. Based on a clock, the twelve o'clock position was on the North side of the circle. From twelve o'clock position to the three o'clock position was where the leader's and Council member's wagons were located. The wagon that acted as our headquarters was marked by the Band's flag that flew from a pole mounted to the wagon. This meant that any time in any camp a rider could ride straight to Red Hawk's, or in this case, my wagon.

The exhausted horse slid to a stop in front of me as the rider pulled back on its reins. "Tom, the wagon train," Josh Jones panted, "They've got a hundred mounted men all with M-4's."

I turned to Red Hawk and he nodded his head, turning to the Company commanders, "Turn out everyone that's fit. Josh do they have slaves?"

Josh nodded, "Yes Sir, we couldn't get a good count but probably over a hundred, most of them women."

"Josh how far out are they?"

"They'll camp here in two days."

"We'll hit them in the morning. Little Wolf, they'll have scouts out. You see to it they don't get back." Little Wolf whistled up his squad and they left camp at a gallop. Josh had wolfed down a plate of B and B's and was chomping at the bit wanting to get back to his squad. "Josh, go bed down for the night, your second can take care of your squad." Josh left disappointed that he wasn't headed back to his squad.

I left to go be with my wives, I wasn't looking forward to this confrontation. Beth met me at the edge of our camp. She always knows when something is bothering me. I kissed her and took her hand in mine and headed to the wagon. My other wives were all undressed and waiting for Beth and I. I helped Beth up the ladder and waited while she undressed. Sleeping eight adults in the wagon had necessitated making some changes. Now almost the whole back of the wagon was a bed. I stripped my shirt and pants off and quickly climbed the ladder and joined my sweeties in the bed. I had to briefly explain what Josh had found. I didn't have to explain the seriousness. In less than half an hour we were all asleep.

Jana woke me with a kiss, when I checked my watch it was four in the morning. In a few minutes we were all up and headed to the mess area. Elizabeth's ladies had done themselves proud. I had expected to end up with jerky and cold Johnny cake. Fried buffalo, fried taters, water gravy, biscuits, Johnny cake, and flat bread. It was a good breakfast and a good way to start off a day that I sincerely hope turns out ok.

We moved out at first light with five companies of cavalry, Red Hand's commandos, and Robert Mill's artillery. We were leaving the wagon train with just the bare minimum for protection, but with a little push and no nooning they should catch up with us. Our pace was not our fastest, we wanted to have enough left on our ponies that we could make a hasty retreat if we had to.

After eight hours on the trail we met one of the members of Josh's squad. Josh's second had scouted the twenty five miles behind the wagon train and found a second group of fifty men. The scout said that they seemed to be shadowing the wagon train. Regardless of who they were, we would have to allow for them with a new attack plan.

Broken Knife looked at me, he didn't have to ask the question he had on his mind. I just looked at him, "Right now I don't have a clue." I didn't have the whole picture in my head. I figured the fifty men that were trailing would be easy to deal with. The thing I was worried about was the radio that they were bound to have. Then it hit me, we had brought one of the base station units that we had captured from one of the other wagon trains, If we could find the frequency they were using we could use the base station to jam their signal as long as they were using the small hand held units. Considering how close the second group was that was probably the case.

I called Red Hand up and went over some ideas with him but in the end it still hinged on where they stopped more than anything else. It was a little after fifteen hundred when our lead elements spotted the wagon train. They were pulling into a grove of cottonwoods. I took one look at the site and knew it was perfect for us and a place we would never have picked, it would be impossible to defend.

I started off by sending a full Company, the 5th, to hit the fifty men at three in the morning. Then we waited for the people of the wagon train to go to sleep. A four person team set up the radio and quickly found the frequency that the two groups were using to keep in touch. After setting the radio to its highest broadcast power they keyed the mic and started transmitting while they used one of the hand held units we had to listen to the other three channels that these units were capable of using.

At midnight members of Red Hand's Commandos took out the Sentries and set claymores between their camp and their horses. Once the claymores were in place, Red Hand's men started taking their horses and handing them off to Troopers of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Companies.

They had picketed their horses on the other side of the creek where there was a small water fall. The noise created by the waterfall covered what little noise the horses made. We were able to get all of their livestock into the woods and in a box canyon without them realising a thing. Red Hand's men went back to the sleeping men and started cutting throats and picking up their weapons. At two forty five they retreated to the bank of the creek as Troopers of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, joined them using the banks of the creek for cover.

At three a.m. the 5th attacked. I had sent three of the M-60 machine guns along with two of the mortars. I had wondered if the mortars could be heard and they might have been if not for the thunderstorm to the north of us. We heard thunder off in the distance before three o'clock and after but a specific sound of mortars going off we never heard. At four thirty a Trooper with the 5th showed up and claimed that all fifty were dead and they only had two casualties. The 5th would wait until daylight to make sure that there were no survivors.

This wagon train, like the others, had put the slaves and the girls for Van der Wahl's whorehouse at the end of the train. I sent three squads made up mostly of freed slaves and girls liberated from the other trains to secure the slaves. This meant killing the guards, drivers, and whomever else were abusing the girls. By first light the three squads had moved all of the slaves and girls down into the creek bed and around the next bend where they would be out of harms way.

At first light the snipers went to work. It didn't take long for the waggoners to realise that they were surrounded. That's when they tried to call in their reinforcements and Zoë blew the man's head and radio to pieces with the Barrett. When they realised that help wasn't coming they tried to make a break for their horses. The claymores made a mess out of the fifty or so men that tried to rush the creek. As soon as Red Hand set off the claymores all of the Troopers using the creek bank for cover emptied a full clip from their M-4's into the men trying to take cover. It didn't take long for them to start screaming for surrender terms.

I called out and told them to put their hands on their heads and walk towards the creek. When they stood up we stopped shooting. The silence was eerie. The only sound was the sound of the wounded moaning. As we were processing the survivors, one man who had been playing dead eased his hand on to his M-4. He had just stood so that he could get a good shot at Broken Knife and I when his head exploded. He must have had his weapon on full auto and when his brain went his reflexes locked down on the trigger. For a brief few seconds bullets were going everywhere. I didn't see it but later I was told that Zoë emptied the Barrett on the man's body which had the effect of making the muzzle of his weapon point skyward. In the end he killed three of his companions and wounded four of our people including me. The man that had been standing in front of me was one of those killed. The bullet that went through his neck killing him hit me in the side of the head. Fortunately it hit a glancing blow and ended up making a big gash just under the brim of my hat.

It also knocked me out. I came to with my head in Mia's lap and a very upset Jana trying to wake me up. Like any head wound it bled like a stuck hog. I was very glad that Mia and Jana had learned how to put in sutures because my head needed thirty six of them to close up the gash the bullet left. My lovely wives did a pretty good job of stabilising the other wounded. While I was patching up our wounded and those of the wagon train that could be saved, Red Hawk and Broken Knife were moving the wagons five miles down the trail. There was enough blood and gore at this site to make it more than unpleasant to camp there.

Jase Trammel had brought two slips and four fresnos that were put to work digging trenches for the many bodies. The Fresno scraper wasn't invented in my history until the 1880's but I figured that a piece of horse drawn equipment that would greatly ease digging ditches would be far more benign than M-4's and some of the other weapons that were showing up. A fresno, for the unlearned, consists of a 'U' shaped piece of sheet metal with ends in our case bolted on the ends so that now we had something that looked like the front loader on a backhoe. A long handle is attached to the top of the bucket and a chain attached to the bucket. By taking a team of horses and hooking them to the chain they can then pull the bucket. The handle is used to set the angle of the loader controlling how much it digs into the soil. Once the bucket is full of dirt the operator pushes down on the handle making the cutting edge go up and the dirt filled bucket can then be pulled along the ground. When you get the dirt where you want to dump it, you pull up on the handle and allow the bucket to flip over thus dumping the dirt. A slip is basically the same thing but with a set of wheels added so that larger amounts of dirt can be moved. Say what you want, it beats the hell out of a shovel. With way over a thousand folks, digging latrines is a constant problem handily solved by these tools.

It was late that afternoon before Jase and his gang had all the bodies buried. That wasn't the end of their day, because as soon as they were finished they had to head to the new campsite and dig latrines there. One of the things Moses' men had built was skid mounted outhouses. Jase and his men would dig a long ditch then when the wagons got there Moses and his men would slide the units off of their special wagon and over the ditch. We have five units, each with a ten holer and even at that there are still lines.

While Jase was finishing up burying the dead I was finishing up with the wounded from the wagon train. I asked Jase to leave room for six more bodies that I didn't think would make it. I had noticed a well dressed man standing off to the side watching Jana, Mia and I. When I finished with the last man he walked over. As he approached he went to reach into his coat. Jana had her Colt out and pointed at his head. He was stuttering and walking backwards. I jumped on him, "Mister I don't know what you're playing at but you're going to fuck around and get shot if you go to making sudden moves like that."

"I ... I ... jus ... just wanted to give you this," he pulled a letter addressed to Preston Johns. "I ... I didn't know about the stuff hidden in the wagons."

"So hauling slaves and forcing those girls into prostitution is all right with you but hidden guns, is wrong?" I was staring at the man as I opened the letter. The letter was just more of the same. It was amazing to me that Mr. Black was still relying on hand carried letters for communication. The letter did mention something new, Mr. Black was planning to move his operation to Santa Fe. The big news and the thing that worried me the most was the mention of a meeting with some gentlemen from Richmond Virginia. That meeting was scheduled in three weeks. That meeting could not happen. If I had to die trying I had to stop the South from getting these weapons. Second on my list was to find out how Black was getting all this stuff from my time to now.

Our wagons were passing by now and Jana wasn't looking forward to seeing Beth. "JANA," a very pregnant and very irate Beth was climbing down the ladder that Mae had leaned against the side of the wagon, "JANA, why does our husband have a bandage around his head." Beth had backed Jana up against a tree, "You were supposed to keep him out of trouble."

I kept quiet as long as I could just because in a strange sort of way it was funny, "Beth ... Beth ... Beth ... Sweetie it wasn't her fault. Now come over here and give me a kiss."

Beth waddled over and gave me a kiss, "How bad?"

Jana must have been feeling suicidal because she replied, "Thirty six,"

Beth spun in my arms to face Jana so she could give her a serious glare, "Stitches? ... Not stitches?"

Jana was nodding her head in an exaggerated bobble head doll sort of way and grinning insanely.

Beth shook her head and then winked at me, "No Tom for you for a week."

Jana's eyes went wide and she looked panicked then Beth and the rest of us broke out laughing.

I was glad it was just a joke, the thought of dealing with Jana after a week without sex is not something that I want to experience, at least I don't think so.



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Chapter 14



That night we had a meeting with the whole camp. The letter was discussed and what it would mean to all of us. Timothy Whitehead, the man that had given me the letter from Black to the governor, had given us a wealth of information on Black's operation, including a map of his compound. The problem was moving through the country. One or two hundred armed men would cause the locals to panic. As near as we could figure St. Jo was only about three hundred miles away, but between here and there was Fort Leavenworth.

Matthew Johnson, the former commandant of Ft. Larned, said he knew the commanding officer at Ft. Leavenworth and knew him to be a fervent abolitionist. Both he and his wife were sure that he would support any action we took against Black. The decision was made to take the herds and the wagons with us. If it got to looking like we wouldn't make it in time we would take two companies and rush ahead. The problem was the attention two or three hundred armed and mounted riders would draw.

Matthew wrote a letter to his friend at Leavenworth it was entrusted to one of our best squads and they left at first light along with three other squads that were to scout and set up our relay system.

I'm sure I've mentioned before how irritatingly slow travel is in this day and age. Three hundred miles, five or six hours easy in a car, I was deep in thought trying to divide three hundred by seventy when I heard the call. "Rider coming" followed closely by the whistles for officers, I spurred Jack and we headed to the head of the column.

George Washington Smith, one of the many teenaged slaves that we had freed, slid his pony to a stop and saluted Red Hawk, "Sir, it's another wagon train with the special wagons."

"How far away are they trooper?" Red Hawk asked.

"About twenty five miles, they have fifteen of the wagons and there's a guard on each and ten men mounted all carrying M-4's," the young trooper reported

It wasn't quite noon yet, I turned to Red Hawk, "If we keep going we'll meet them before dark. Let's just keep going and when we meet them let's see if they feel like taking all of us on."

Red Hawk just grinned and whistled for the wagons to move out. He sent the trooper to get a fresh horse and then spread the word that we wouldn't be stopping at noon.

It was a little before five when we met them. Red Hawk had Capt. Mills unlimber his guns and sent Red Hand and Broken Knife to the left and right with two companies apiece. That left three companies directly in front of them. It didn't take long for them to come up with a white flag and ride out to meet us.

"What is the meaning of this? How dare you stop us? We are on official business," a well dressed man screamed at us.

"Would that be business with the governor of Santa Fe?" I asked.

"Yes, it is. Why?"

"We overthrew the late governor several months ago. Santa Fe has a new government and this one is loyal the U.S." The older man with the dude seemed very pleased to hear this. "We will be searching your wagons for weapons and we will also be removing any slaves that you have with you."

"You can't do that."

I smiled, "Look around, because I think we can, the question is will you or any of the others be alive to see it? Do you work for Mr. Black or the late governor?"

"The governor and that's the second time you've called him the late governor. Is he dead?"

"Yes, we executed him, or rather the US Army did after we captured him. He was a traitor, are you a traitor?" He started reaching for his pistol, "Don't even think about touching that pistol, you'll be dead before you clear leather."

The older man started laughing, "Well Mr. Johns what are you going to do now?"

"You're a Johns?"

"Yes, the governor was my father," he replied the hatred and anger etched on his face.

I looked at the man with total disdain, "Well, just so you know, I killed your brother and I did it the same way he killed all those children except that I didn't put a hot iron to the severed joint to keep him from bleeding to death. He lasted through cutting his fingers and toes off. We sped things up a bit when we cut his dick and balls off. You should have heard him scream and beg."

Johns was turning pretty green and suddenly turned and threw up. After he finished he looked at me, "You're nothing but a bunch of savages."

He grabbed for his gun and his head exploded, "Mister, you better keep your hand where everyone can see it. That young lady that just shot him doesn't miss and doesn't need much of a reason to pull the trigger." The man nodded with out saying a word, "Now then we need to search those wagons."

Red Hawk whistled up advance and all of our troops moved up on the wagon train. Before we started moving I reached across and offered my hand to the man in front of me, "I'm sorry that Mr. Johns wouldn't let us do this peaceful. I'm Tom Dunlap by the way, and this is our leader Red Hawk and his brother Two Horses."

The man reached across and took my hand, "Robert Morehouse glad to meet you. Milt Thorp told me about you and your Band. I took this job just to find you and thank you for what you've done." I tried to tell him that it wasn't necessary, but he shook his head and continued, "My brother his wife and three of his four kids were on one of those wagon trains. When Milt told me how you killed that animal I at least felt like we got some justice."

"Well Robert, I'm just glad we caught the bastard before he could butcher any other children." We had got to the wagons and Jase Trammel had the first one opened and was pulling out the crates. Robert and I got off our horses and walked over to the wagon.

"What is it Tom? It's different from the M-4's." Jase asked as he handed the weapon to me.

"It's an MP-5. It shoots a 9mm pistol round," I looked over the gun it was brand new and reeked of cosmoline. It had a collapsible stock and a suppressor. "Is it full of those Jase?"

"Near as I can tell Tom," he reached into and box that was under the tarp and pulled out a box of 9mm ammo. "Is this what it shoots?" Jase was looking at small bullet thinking it couldn't hold enough powder to push it out of the barrel.

I looked at the box 124 grain jacketed hollow point and thought how these little beauties could come in handy when we went to visit Mr. Black. Maggie brought me out of my day dream, "Tom there's two wagons full of this one, it's a HK 33KA2 and there's two wagons full of HK G3 A3's and Zoë has found something she called PSG 1. I don't know what it is but she's over there talking about giving up her beloved 'Kate'."

I shook my head. Zoë had to be the only girl I ever knew in either time that gets orgasmic over a gun but she'd saved my ass too many times for me to complain. I whistled for my favourite sniper and a few minutes later she ran up to the wagon where I was standing, "Oh Sir, you just have to let me have one of these, please."

"How many of them are there?"

"There are nine of these ... I mean ten, ten MSG90's and twenty S-I-G 550's but they're all .223 and I don't like that small bullet for long shots," Zoë explained as she caressed the rifle like it was a lover.

I turned to Robert, "This is the little lady that made Mr. Johns head explode." Turning back to Zoë, "Look, I'm sure you're going to end up with one of those, but you know I can't let you have that right now. I'll get swamped with troopers wanting guns if I do. Go put it back so Maggie can get the inventory and we'll assign weapons tomorrow or the next day." Zoë walked away but she didn't look all that happy.

"It's hard to believe that a slip of a girl like that would be that interested in a rifle even if it was the fanciest one I ever saw. Tom I've never seen guns like these other than the ones Black gave the guards. They showed what they could do and they are frighteningly deadly. Where do you think Black is getting them from?"

I was trying to figure out what to tell Robert when a red haired freckled face beauty runs up and grabs a hold of Robert's arm, "Uncle Bob isn't this exciting? Some of them are real Indians."

Fanny ran up to me and came to attention and saluted and then handed me a message. I turned my back to Robert and his niece and read the dispatch and answered it. Fanny put the piece of paper into her pouch that she always carried. She let loose an ear splitting whistle and a brown and white paint came running straight for her and slid to a stop.

"Robert watch this." Robert and his niece turned and watched as the four foot nothing Fanny grabbed a handful of her pony's mane and whistled. The horse bolted with familiar ease in a dance that the two of them had choreographed and spent countless hours practicing. Fanny was jerked from her feet landing in the McClellan saddle her feet searching for the stirrups as she fanned the extra long reins that she had Simpson make for her. And just like that, Fanny was headed out of the camp headed for the horse herd.

"Man alive! That little stink can ride that's for sure." Robert was grinning from ear to ear.

Robert's niece had turned and we faced each other for the first time, "Uncle Bob would you introduce me to your handsome friend."

I smiled at her then taking my hat and sweeping it across as I did an exaggerated cavalier bow, "Thomas Jefferson Dunlap at your service ma'am." She offered her hand so I kissed the back of it and listened to her sigh softly. That sigh and the noticeable increase in her pulse told me that I might have laid the charm on a little thick and worried that it might come back to bite me on the ass, so to speak.

"Tom this is my niece Glenna Morehouse," Robert was getting that matchmaking look in his eye which made me all the more tickled to see two of my wives coming up behind Robert and Glenna

Jana ran and jumped up on me wrapping her legs around my waist and giving me a red hot kiss. Since it didn't seem that Jana was going to break the kiss any time soon Beth smiled, "Hello, I'm Beth Dunlap."

When she finally did let me up for some air, "And this lusty lassie is Jana," I added. When Jana turned her head to speak to Robert and Glenna we saw the hurt on Glenna's face.

Beth pulled her into a hug and Jana slid off me to stand on her own. "You fell for this rascal didn't you?"

As Glenna's tears began to fall she looked up to Beth, "Are you his sister in law?"

"No," Beth giggled, "I'm his wife."

"But the other girl?" Glenna looked shocked.

Jana smiled and took the girl's hand, "I'm his wife too."

"Come on," Beth took Glenna's free hand, "let's go to our wagon and you can meet the others."

I was watching them walk away, "You have two wives?" Robert was clearly as disappointed as his niece had been.

"Try seven," I grinned at his stricken look, "and I hope it's not fixin' to be eight wives." Looking up at Robert, "No offence. I went from none to four in one day and I didn't do anything but nod my head. The girls decided everything."

Robert was shaking his head, "Seven?"

"Yep," I heard the triangle being beaten, that meant that supper was ready, "come on Robert let's go see if my lovely wives are ready to go to supper. If they're not we just go unescorted." When Robert and I got to our wagon we had company. "Robert this is my mother, Millie Hand and her sister/wife and Husband, Elizabeth and Red Hand. Mom, Elizabeth, and Dad," I winked at Red Hand, "this is Robert Morehouse."

Red Hand stuck out his hand, "Good to meet you Sir."

Robert seemed to be a little shook up, "Are there a lot of multiple marriages here?"

Mom smiled at the man's obvious distress, "Pretty much. There are a few couples, but not many."

Before Robert and Mom could get involved in a discussion of plural marriages, Beth walked up with the rest of my wives and Glenna, "Why don't we all head over to the Mess area" As we were walking over Beth held me back, "Glenna fell for you bad. You have to stop doing that bow and kissing the hand thing you do. It just isn't fair to the women of our age. It's bad enough to have dreamed of prince charming all your life without meeting him and having him act like they do in the story books."

"Okay, I'll stop."

"Don't you dare," Beth stopped and kissed me, "I was just kidding you. She really did fall for you but she's not sure she could ever share her man with anyone."

Robert was amazed by the Mess area. One of Moses' men, Zack, was a master carpenter. He had made over a hundred tables that could be put together and taken apart in minutes. They were stowed on the wagons and dropped off in the Mess area for tables or in an emergency they could be used as a barricade. In one of our drills the Mess area is turned into a safe place for the children. When an attack is signaled the squads assigned to the Mess turn the tables into a totally enclosed fort. Zack even modified the tables. Each table has a small port that can be opened from under the table thus allowing the squads to fire from a protected position.

It was something that we hadn't used and I hoped we never would. After supper we wandered back over to our wagon and spent the evening talking about the Band. Red Hawk and Two Horses came over and asked Robert what he was going to do in the morning. All of the wagons but four were carrying war supplies for the governor. As it turned out three of the four remaining wagons were Robert's, one that he and Glenna lived out of and the other two held supplies and trade goods. The forth wagon belonged to an arrogant jerk that was a, quote, close personal friend of the governor, unquote. He got mad when we freed his slaves and had been steadily getting angrier ever since.

We were getting ready to hit the trail the next morning when James Forsyth and his traveling companion William Harper came charging up to our wagon. I had my back to them checking the trace chains when they came into view.

Every family unit had their own signal that warned of trouble or danger, and I heard ours now. "Tom, you better get out from under there," Mia warned.

It didn't take long to see what had her worried. It also didn't take long for all of my wives to grab their M-4's and move to where they could back me up. Jana handed me my Katana and then moved back as the girls set up their fields of fire. I reached down and popped the hold down off the hammers of my .44's.

Mom had heard Mia's whistle and now her, Liz, and Red Hand moved to cover my wives flank. On the other side of my wives the Pied Piper and his harem set up. The angry man coming towards me didn't seem to be effected but seeing the young teens and preteens with automatic weapons made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Forsyth walked up to me, "Are you Dunlap?"

"Yes," I didn't get any more out because he went to slap me with a pair of gloves. Hells bells, for all I knew they had a rock in them. I blocked the glove with my left forearm and swept his feet. I'm not sure what he was expecting, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't his ass hitting the ground like it did. I followed that up by sliding the katana out of its sheath and brought a full swing to a stop right on his Adams apple.

His friend started reaching for a pistol, "Drop the gun or we drop you," Jana yelled. He looked up and saw the sixteen people behind me and the weapons they were pointing at him. The effect on him became evident by a large wet spot suddenly appearing on the front of his pants. Now that the gun threat was taken care of, I turned my attentions back the man on the ground, "Now then, what seems to be your major malfunction?"

"You've taken my slaves and impugned my honour. I'm here to get both back," he replied angrily.

I shook my head, "The people that you had enslaved are free and no one will be taking their freedom away from them. As for your honour, what do you propose to do about that?"

"I came here to challenge you to a duel."

"What good does that do you? If by some miracle you were to kill me that won't change the status of the people you had enslaved because they will still be free."

"You could make a deal, they're just niggers."

It was all I could do to keep from just pushing the point of my sword into his neck. I had to count to ten before I could answer him, "Gamble with their freedom? No thank you. It's plain to me that if you leave here alive you are just going to enslave more people."

"That's right, as soon as I get back to St. Jo,"

I backed up two steps, "Get up." He stood and turned to face his friend and I could tell that he was doing something, pulling out a small pistol was my guess. It was almost like it was in slow motion. He started to turn around real fast. I swung the Katana just as fast to meet him. The blade knocked the derringer from his hand severing three of his fingers. I slashed upward cutting a gash in his chest and then finished him by lobbing off his head.

His friend went to bring his pistol up to shoot me but Jana and Sam both shot him first. The shots drew people from all over camp. While Red Hand explained everything, Prissy and Mae brought fresh water and a clean rag so that I could clean my sword.

A tall black man with ritual scaring on his face walked up to the headless body of Forsyth and smiled, "Well Mr. Forsyth, it appears that you were wrong again." He put first one foot and then the other on the man's chest and wiped his boots off on the man's shirt.

"I take it you didn't care for the gentleman," I slid the sword into its scabbard and offered my hand, "Tom Dunlap."

He shook my hand, "Robert Mutu. Do I have you to thank for Mr. Forsyth losing his head?"

I laughed, "Yeah, he figuratively lost it when he pulled a gun on me and then my Katana caused him to lose it literally. Pardon my saying so but you don't sound like the average slave."

He smiled, "I was educated in England. I was on my way back home when he," Robert motioned towards the body, "kidnapped me and brought me to this country."

"Do you want us to help you get home?" I asked not really having a clue how to help the man.

"No, you are going to need me to help you destroy Mr. Black and all he stands for. Would you mind if the other former slaves of this man and I take over his wagon?"

I looked at Red Hawk. He nodded, "Sure go ahead," he turned and walked away. Broken Knife had gone through the pockets of the two bodies and handed me a letter from Black to Johns. I opened it up and what I read there scared the hell out of me. "Where's Maggie?"

Red Hawk turned to me, "I'm not sure, why?"

"According to this there are some special supplies for the doctor in one of those wagons." I walked over to Spot and mounted up, "Come on lets check this out." Red Hawk and I rode over to the wagons we had just seized. There was Maggie still making a list of what was in the wagons. "Maggie, have you run across any more boxes of stuff for the late doctor?"

"No, but I still lack these five wagons that have the false bottoms and then there's the rest of the wagons. All of this stuff is from Black and not one way bill or manifest to be found."

I turned to Red Hawk, "We don't have the time to waste let's just hit the trail. We'll go through the wagons when we have time." Red Hawk nodded his agreement and whistled for the train to get ready to move. "Maggie when you run across that stuff for the doctor do not open it or let any one else open it. In fact post two gaurds on it. Then come and get me and I'll take care of it."

"Yes Sir," Maggie saluted and then smiled and went back to work.

I rode back to my wagon and noticed that the bodies were gone, but I couldn't see where they had been dragged away, "Where'd they go?"

Jana giggled, "The latrine crew came and got them. They said they had a hole already dug. They'll smell so bad the devil may not want them in hell."

"Remind me to tell Robert Mutu where they were buried. I think he will consider that poetic justice." We were on the trail within the hour. Normally it wouldn't take long for the boredom of life at this slow pace to set in, but today I was driving our wagon. Sitting between two of my lovely wives, Beth and Prissy, while the other five rode close enough for chat wasn't boring in the least. We talked about our future and our children's future. When we started talking about our house it got me to thinking. In 2006 we were once again dealing with an energy crisis and I realised that the way to avoid the energy crises of the future we had to begin now.

That led my thinking back to how would we could establish our own country with out pissing off the young United States. Right now I can't imagine how we can have that freedom without a lifetime of war. We might even be the catalyst to make both the North and South unite to fight us. Then there's the other tribes, how will the Sioux, Crow, Blackfoot, and others look at us? I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard the whistles to move out.

Maggie sent a young trooper to drive a well sprung surrey for some of the more pregnant women to ride in. The surrey had been on a large flat bed wagon belonging to the late Mr. Forsyth. Beth being the furthest along of my wives was invited to ride in what was hoped to be a little more comfort. Our push to make St. Jo in three weeks was causing me concern about Beth and the other pregnant women.

When Two Horses tribe joined us we got a woman who was their healer. Little Fox was well versed on the native cures and had a hunger for learning that couldn't be described. She spent an hour or two every day picking my brain for medical knowledge. She would have been a nuisance if not for the fact that we were now so many in number that I needed all the help I could get.

The day passed like so many others on the trail. The slow pace was good for one thing and that was reflection but with Beth in the surrey and Jana on the seat beside me that wasn't going to happen today. Jana was, as per normal, horny. By her own admission she was only horny on days that ended in a 'y' and we all know where that leaves me.

After an hour on the trail Prissy had had enough, "For God's sake take her back on the bed and see if you can tide her over till tonight."

Apparently that was all that Jana was waiting on because she pulled me into the back and was stripping off buckskins as fast as she could, mine and hers. I didn't think that it would be just the two of us and sure enough Mia and Mae soon joined us.

Jana wasted no time. As soon as she got my pants off she pushed me on to my back and mounted me. This is Jana's preferred position and if the truth be told mine as well. I like it because I can rub Jana's small but very sensitive breasts. Mia and Mae were adding to Jana's stimulation so it didn't take long for her to climax.

Mia and Mae eased Jana off of me to lie beside me. Mae, the youngest of my wives having just turned fifteen, was next in line to ride her cowboy. Where Jana was thin and athletic Mae was soft and curvy. Add to that her coal black hair and alabaster skin and Mae was my little china doll. Her back had long ago healed from the beating she had received, but sometimes I wasn't so sure if her spirit had.

Sex with Mae was just the opposite of sex with Jana. With Jana it was always wild and frantic. The phrase 'hot monkey sex' described sex with Jana to a 't'. With Mae it was slow, deliberate and most of all passionate. Well normally that's how she was but today for what ever reason she was as hot to trot as Jana. While she was laying a smoldering kiss on me Mia was nursing little Tom back to full strength. "He's ready Mae," Mia called out.

I started to get up to let Mae lie down since she preferred me to be on top. Not this time, she pushed me back to the bed and quickly mounted me. I reached for her breasts only to have her knock my hands away, "Please don't, they're very tender. My monthlies are about to start. Mia, come sit on his face while I scratch this itch."

Before I could respond Mia's beautiful mocha coloured pussy was descending on my face. I used my fingers to gently spread her chocolaty folds revealing the pink insides. Mia moaned as I sucked her lower lips into my mouth and then pierced those lips with my tongue. I could only make out muffled sounds with Mia's legs sealing my ears, but I didn't need ears to know that Mae was cumming.

Mae slipped off of me and Mia quickly took her place. With my face clear, Jana and Mae moved in and kept my lips occupied until Mia and I both came. I fell asleep right after that and I guess either the trail was real smooth or I was real tired because I slept until we stopped for the night.

-------

The next day our scouts told us we would be coming to a small trading post. It would mean an early stop but Moses said he could use the time to repair some wagons before they broke down completely. At the trading post we made the acquaintance of Seth Hayes a grandson of Daniel Boone and very proud of it. He entertained us for hours with tales but I couldn't get Fess Parker out of my mind. It's very different hearing history this way rather than seeing it on TV.

Stopping at Council Grove turned out to be a good thing. So many of our wagons were worn and damaged that days could have been lost if we had had them break down one at a time. We ended up staying an extra day to give Moses' men time to finish. Seth was very impressed with our group and eventually asked a question that we would spend many nights and days of the future thinking about, "Why not stay on the plains and make it our home?"

We had been on the trail four days when we met one of the squad sent with Matthew Johnson's letter. He had bad news, Black's men had taken the fort at Leavenworth the day before.



-------

Chapter 15



The news that Leavenworth was in the hands of Black's men had a chilling effect on everyone. The rest of the squad that had been sent with the letter had managed to get Colonel Mayes, his wife and two daughters out and while he was unhappy at the loss of his command he was thankful to the squad for getting his family out.

Our options were pretty limited. We were less than twenty miles from the fort and after a quick meeting it was decided that we would leave immediately and make a battle plan once we were on site.

We dipped into our limited supply of oats and fed all of the horses and mules. Some of the mules that had been pulling some of the heavier loads had to be replaced, but we had more than enough spare mules and a few draft horses. In two hours all of the livestock and most of the people had been fed. While the stragglers were being fed Elizabeth Hand had her cooks making extra flat bread and johnny cake so the squads would have something to eat in the morning. Cold flat bread or johnny cake and pemmican are not the greatest breakfast in the world but it beats having your stomach think your throat has been cut. The mess workers stacked the cloth wrapped meals on seven tables and got word to the company commanders.

Squads were formed an hour before sun set and we moved out with each trooper leading a spare mount. The wagons followed the troopers with a small escort. The horses and cattle would follow at daylight with an extra squad helping them. We had grown to the point that we mounted seven full companies. Seven hundred men and women, Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow, With the last wagon train our Band had become complete. Fifty men and sixty women from China had joined us rather than finish out the life of slavery that Mr. Black had planed for them. Now the five hands on our flag represented the Bands diverse racial backgrounds.

We travelled the twenty miles to Leavenworth as quickly as we could with out killing our horses. At ten o'clock we found our squad that was waiting with Col. Mayes. Even though Matthew Johnson's letter described us the Colonel was flabbergasted to see seven hundred armed men and women. Josh Jones informed us that Black's people were very upset that the Colonel was not there.

They had spent all day looking for the Colonel and his family which had them behind some sort of schedule. When one of the search parties came too close to Josh's squad they had taken them down. According to what Josh had learned from one of the surviving members of the search party was that the women of Leavenworth would be raped starting tonight whether they found the Colonel or not. Apparently there was going to be a big party tonight but Black was giving the search teams till midnight before starting.

Black's men had confiscated every gun and grabbed every female between ten and forty. The guns were locked in the armoury and the women had been herded into a large barn at the end of town. We knew that the women needed to be protected, but we also felt that they might be used to bait a trap hoping to catch us. I remembered seeing something in the last load of medical supplies. In addition to the vaccines for smallpox and the other diseases that Black was planning on releasing on the Native Americans there were other interesting drugs. The one that came to mind now was Sodium thiopental also known as truth serum.

We tried it on the man that Josh got to talk. What he told us under the drug's effect made me shudder. It was indeed a trap, a deadly trap. According to the man Black had filled a small root cellar inside the barn with boxes that were filled with bricks of this gray clay like substance. When the man was asked what it was called he replied, "See four." He also told us that Black himself had "wired it up" using something Black had called a "remote". The man also told of other buildings where Black had put some "funny looking green things." When we showed him one of the Claymores we had seized he confirmed our fears. The heavily doped man then explained that Black had men in each building ready to set off the mines.

Colonel Mayes stepped out of the crowd and picked up the Claymore turning it over and reading the 'This side towards enemy, ' "What would happen if we turned these around with out them knowing it? The reason I ask is that some of your smaller troopers could get under the board walk and reverse them very easily."

I looked at Red Hawk and he was grinning, "I guess that leaves me the remote activated device in the root cellar."

I had been thinking about the remote ever since the man had mentioned it, "The remote won't work without a battery, if we pull the battery and then make sure that the detonators are not in the C4 we should be safe."

It wasn't much of a surprise that Fanny was the first to volunteer to move the Claymores. She was followed by every kid in the band. In the end Red Hawk selected five of the smallest troopers and put Tommy Davidson in charge. Tommy was the logical choice since he had read the Army manual on the Claymores and had been one of the ones that had set some of them the one time we had used them. He took the five volunteers and started schooling them on how to handle the antipersonnel mines.

Since I was the only one to even know what a remote might would look like, I volunteered to disarm the bomb where the women were being held. Tommy and his group would use night vision glasses and leave after it got dark. I picked Zoë Polk to go with me. We would use Ghillie suits and leave in time to be at the barn just as it got dark.

Red Hand's hand picked commandos would surround the town and try and spot any of the people Black set as lookouts. As soon as Tommy and I sent the all clear signal Robert would start everything off by firing illumination rounds followed by smoke rounds. We knew where Black's men were bunking and Robert's company would move the GMG and the two fifty cals to cover that building.

Zoë and I worked our way around to a creek that ran around towards the back of the barn where the women were being held. We hadn't gone twenty yards down the creek before we ran into two of Black's men. Zoë was carrying her new PSG-1 for long distance pin point work and we were both carrying MP5's with suppressors for bulk work. Zoë counted down from three and we dropped the two guards. The two guards didn't have the remote but they did have a detonator hard wired in. I cut the wires off of the detonator and put it in my pocket and we moved quickly towards the barn. When we got directly behind the barn we found where the wire from the two men we had killed came up and headed to the barn. The thing that made my heart stop was the other four wires with it. I was half afraid to cut them because if one of them was an alarm circuit we would be tipping our hand or worse. We decided to wait and see what was wired to what.

It seemed like it took forever for the sun to set and darkness to take over, but it finally did. Zoë and I worked our way into the barn and found the women tied with plastic tie wraps, yet another item from my time. Zoë freed one of the women that seemed the calmest and she told me where the root cellar was. I opened the door and there on the very top was a remote operated toy car and the wires leading to the blasting caps were wired to it. There was no relay anywhere to be seen so I cut the leads to the battery. The other five wires were tied to a second set of blasting caps I quickly cut all the wires. Then using a pick that Zoë found I went around the stack of C4 and boy was I glad since I found two more wires which I cut.

While I was sweating bullets in the root cellar Zoë had untied all of the women. I had just cut the last wire when Zoë stuck her head in the doorway, "Tommy just gave the all clear on the Claymores."

"Good I'm done here go give our signal," I climbed out of the cellar and went to the back door of the barn. I cracked the door and whistled the signal for the commandos. They replied right back and two of them approached the door.

Zoë was watching out the front and just as we were getting ready to start moving the women out she called out softly, "We're fixing to have company."

"Damn it," I cursed, "How many?"

"Ten ... no wait there's five more coming out of the saloon," Zoë explained.

I turned to the two commandos, "Get these women out of here and send the rest of your squad." One of the commandos whistled and eight members of their squad came running into the barn. We quickly set up an ambush in the barn.

Jacob Freeman told me that the two squads on either side of the barn were in position as well. Zoë had been using her night vision glasses and had spotted five snipers. When she made her second pass by their locations she saw the three had been taken out by the commandos that were rapidly infiltrating the town.

The door to the barn swung open and fifteen men some carrying lanterns started into the barn. The first ten dropped as the MP5's coughed quietly. The other five hit the ground right behind them as the squads on the creek side of the barn took them out. Two of the lanterns fell into the thick hay on the barn floor and ignited like gasoline. "What about the explosives?" Zoë asked. Thinking that the C4 could come in handy I jumped down in the cellar and started throwing out the crates. I had got ten of them out when Zoë stuck her head in the doorway, "That's good Tom! Come on, your wives will skin me alive if I let you get hurt."

I climbed out and the barn was fully involved. We sprinted out the back door and heard several bullets wiz past us. Shots and shouts were coming fast and furious now from all over town. We heard the crump sound of the mortars and a few seconds later the star shells coated everything with an eerie light. Troopers started pouring into the town from every direction.

Suddenly all along the main street claymores started going off. Tommy and his crew had done a proper job as the fronts of building were shredded by seven hundred steel balls when each mine did it's deadly job. The bunk house was fast turning into a fire fight as Black's men made their stand. Robert nixed that with four HE, high explosive, mortar rounds dropped right through the roof.

Colonel Mayes had gone with the company that hit the fort. There were only ten men left guarding the rest of the Colonel's command. As soon as they were freed and armed with the Henry's they advanced on the town. The Colonel's men had been abused by Black's men and they were mad. But on that account they weren't alone, the few that had survived the Claymores wrath fell to the town's people. It didn't take Black's men long to figure out that it was in their best interest to surrender to men and women wearing the buckskins. Within two hours of the first shot being fired the town was ours. The only disappointment, Black had escaped hours earlier, long before we arrived.

With the fighting over the work began. Our wagons moved up to the fort and started setting up camp. The bodies were gathered so Jase could dig ditches to bury the men in. I had bodies to patch up. We had been extremely lucky, five wounded and no dead and none of the wounded were serious. The same could not be said for Black's men. Black had taken the town with one hundred men and left fifty to hold it. He had told them that the claymores would even out the odds. The ten that were still alive could prove him wrong and five of those weren't likely to see the morning. The town's people wanted to lynch them on the spot. It took a lot of talk and the threat of having to fight the Band to convince them not to. Some of the wounded might have been saved but considering that as soon as we got the information that we wanted we were going to turn them over to the Colonel and let him deal with them we decided not to spend too much time with them.

-------

The truth serum did its job and we got everything that the five healthy men knew and turned them over to the Colonel. That just added to the town's people's unhappiness towards us. Six of the most prominent town's folk were pissed when we freed their slaves. They were finally shouted down by the rest of the residents. Two of the six had wives who had been in the barn and they found out real quick that their wives were grateful even if their husbands weren't.

Tommy managed to find three orphans and even though they were being cared for by the local preacher they elected to join the band. He had no more than got the three little girls settled than the call for assembly went out. Squad leaders and troopers gathered on the parade grounds at the fort. A wagon driven by some of Elizabeth's cooks showed up with hot food. The troopers were fed and mounts checked and then three companies were picked to go after Black.

We mounted up and were about to leave when the Colonel rode up with most of his men. They were intent on going with us, so much so the Colonel put himself and his men under the 'Bands' command. Rather than sit around and argue extra horses were ordered up and we left at a gallop.

One of the horsemanship manoeuvres that we practiced was changing horses on the run. The Colonel's men looked on in awe two hours later as we shifted to our spare horses. They had to stop and change to the spares. We adjusted our pace to allow them to catch up. Forty five minutes later we were surrounding Black's house. It was just after three in the morning.

We knew the lay out from the men we had interrogated. And from the hill above Black's compound it looked like everything was as described. Three of Robert's squads quickly set up two mortars and the fifty cal. Sighting in on the building where Black's men were supposed to be sleeping. Zoë had deployed five of our best snipers. She on the other hand was stuck to my side, "Aren't you... ?"

Zoë shook her head and smiled her teeth shinning in the dark, "I've got my orders."

I just groaned. I smelled my wives at work. Broken Knife gave the order and all around the compound the guards dropped. We were through the front gates unopposed as Troopers went about securing every building. Tommy Davis set claymores facing the bunk house and the main house. He gave his signal that he had us an escape route laid out if things fell apart.

We moved to the front of the house and Broken Knife and I went inside with Mia, Zoë, Tommy, Maggie, and Red Hand close behind. At the second door we heard crying. The room was supposed to be a guest room so Zoë quietly opened the door. There naked and bleeding was Mia's mother and a big rough looking bastard. Well he looked pretty rough until Zoë's MP5 burped and a 9mm hole formed in his forehead.

Mia went in taking the keys off the dead man. She was trying to get the shackles off her mother's feet and keep her quiet. We moved to the room that was supposed to be Black's bedroom. We opened it but he wasn't there and the bed hadn't been slept in. Mia told her mother to stay there, she went to a closet and began to get dressed. There was light coming out from under the door to what we had been told was Black's study.

Zoë whispered into the headset she was wearing. A long minute later she heard what she was waiting for. The study, we knew opened to the outside so Zoë had Troopers on the other side. They had silently screwed one of the special door openers that one of Moses Brown's men had designed and hooked a team of mules to it.

When I quietly tried the study door I found it locked. Red Hand safed his MP5 and unslung the 12 gauge shotgun and pointed it at the door jamb. With a look around the hallway Zoë held up three fingers. She dropped one then another, there was a hellacious crashing noise and she dropped the last finger and Red Hand pulled the trigger, and opened the door. We surged inside.

Black was standing with his back to us but quickly had his hands in the air. Sitting in a chair at the side of his desk was a pale blue humanoid. It made perfect sense that some alien technology was responsible for all of this. I stepped forward, "Turn around Black and do it slowly."

Black started laughing, I knew that laugh. He turned around, I couldn't believe it, "Dad, why?"

Dad took one look at Mia, "My my, if it's not my nigger loving son, you couldn't go off to college like I asked, could you." My dad moved to the corner of the desk, "So you're the one that has been fucking up my plans. I'll tell you right now that you're through doing that." He pulled out a strange looking weapon but before he could pull the trigger his head exploded as bullets from at least ten Troopers hit him. The alien made a move for the weapon and Broken Knife shot him through the shoulder. He screamed and fell to the floor. Broken Knife kicked the weapon out of the alien's reach.

I walked over and looked down at my father's body realising for the first time that my pistol was in my hand. Mia came up behind me and put her hand on me letting me know how much she loved me. I wasn't sure how I felt. I knew that one of my bullets helped to kill the man that I had known as my father. But then I thought of all the evil and the hatred he was trying to export and suddenly I didn't feel sad at his death.

Before I could think another thought the room filled with light. Two beings like the one Broken Knife shot appeared in the room. They had their hands up, "Please don't shoot. I am Narith. We come for that one."

I holstered my pistol and walked towards them, "Why should we let him go? He has helped enslave and murder many innocent people."

The taller of the aliens stepped forward, "He has violated many of our laws and must pay for his mistakes."

I wasn't sure what we would do with him. By all rights he should hang, "Why have you waited till now to come for him."

"We could not interfere. We had to wait until you stopped him."

"So you are the one that sent me back in time."

"Yes, we were sure that you could find a way to stop your father. We're sorry that he was killed."

I shook my head, "Don't waste any pity on him. If he had survived we would have hung him and I would be the first one to put the noose around his neck. That's what should happen to that one."

The alien looked at the wounded one as though he was considering turning him over. The wounded alien crawled over and put his head on the feet of the alien that had been talking to me.

"What happens now those two have changed the time line?"

The alien kicked the wounded one off his feet and then turned to the alien behind him. That alien took and pulled the wounded ones hands behind his back and put some kind of restraint on him. The alien leader turned back to me, "The choice is yours. We can send you and your mother back if you like. As for the time line, that would be impossible to untangle."

My mind was running a million miles and hour, "I want to stay here with my wives and I'm sure that my mother will also want to stay. Will you leave us the portal or whatever it was that my father and that one were using to bring modern weapons to this time?"

The two aliens looked at each other and I was sure that they were communicating some way. The leader turned back to me, "You wish to form a nation to protect the Native peoples from the massacres they suffered in your time line, correct?"

"Yes, and the only way that we will be able to do that is if we are stronger that the white men." I watched as the two aliens seemed to be conversing.

"If we do this we see the possibility that your people could alter the course of the coming civil war. We see that you have considered this."

"Yes, I've considered that. We have all these weapons from my era I just don't want to run out of ammunition. I also want all the modern medical help that I can get these people."

"We will leave you and your people the device."

I took and deep breath, "Well, while I'm begging. We want an airplane and or a helicopter." I could see that he was not very receptive to my request. "Look at it this way, you owe us. You let that ... that individual loose on our society and as a result women and girls were raped, beaten, and forced into prostitution. Because of him children died horrible deaths don't you dare try to come off cheap with us."

The alien nodded his head, "You're right. We are responsible for Garrek's actions and the pain and suffering he caused. We will give you three aircraft to begin with the knowledge and equipment necessary to operate and maintain them. Is there anything else that you need?"

I remembered a conversation that I had had with Robert, "Yeah, we need some more artillery. It would be best if it was light enough to move with teams."

"It will take a few days to design and build the weapons you've requested. We will contact you when they are ready." The light flared again and the two aliens disappeared along with the strange weapon.

I turned to Mia, "Let's go check on your mother."

"There's no need I'm right here,"

Mia flew into her mother's arms they hugged and kissed, and when Mia saw me standing there, blushed, "Mother this is my husband Thomas Jefferson Dunlap. He is our doctor and a member of the ruling council. Tom this is my mother Emily Jeffers."

"I'm surprised, but pleased to meet you. Please tell me why you would take on the problems connected with marrying a Negress?"

I smiled at my mother in law and pulled Mia closer to me and stole a kiss, "Well, for one thing there're no problems like you refer to in the Band. As for marrying your daughter, I married her because I love her and she like the other six of my wives has some connection we don't fully understand."

"You have seven wives!" She had her hands on her hips, and it didn't look like I was making a very good first impression, "are you a Mormon?"

I was trying to decide how I should defend myself. I glanced over at Mia then back to her mother and saw something I had seen before, "No, I'm not a Mormon. I'm a poor mistreated husband who is teased constantly by my wives and now it appears by my mother-in-law as well. Maggie's entrance to the room reminded me of one last task left to finish.

Maggie walked up to me and saluted, "Tom we've found the building where all the clothes and blankets are stored. I've posted guards at every door and window."

"Burn it! Don't let anyone go inside. Just douse the sides with coal oil and burn it!" I turned to Mia and her mother, "I'm sorry I have to see to this." I kissed Mia and left with Maggie. I had almost finished vaccinating everyone in the Band with the vaccines we had intercepted. After seeing how easy ... my father had gathered clothing and blankets contaminated with small pox, measles, Hanta virus, and even bubonic plague. I shuddered to think how close he came to releasing all of those on the entire Native American population and wondered who would be next to try it. I knew from my own history that it had happened before. I couldn't help feeling it hadn't been an accident.



-------

Chapter 16



It has been two months since my father was killed. A lot has happened since then. The last six Comanche chiefs that Red Hawk had invited joined the Band, swelling our ranks to well over three thousand. The surprise had come when ten chiefs representing the Sioux, Cheyenne, Shoshone, Arapahoe, and Blackfoot tribes had ridden in and asked to join the Band. My concern, and Red Hawk's, was that if they were given access to the modern weapons would they use them to settle old scores?

After long hours of discussion Mom asked the question that led to the answer. She asked, "Why not have Narith make the guns where they won't fire if they turn on us or decide to go off on their own?" So we asked him. He said it was simple enough to do so we went to the ten chiefs and invited them into the Band. Once they were accepted five riders were dispatched to bring the tribes to Ft. Leavenworth.

This solved another problem. At least it did for me. No longer did I care what the current Americans thought of us uniting and forming a country in the middle of the future United States. We would be strong enough to negotiate on our own terms.

Col. Mayes had sent a dispatch to Washington detailing not only the size of the Band but also our weapons and abilities. He did this without knowing of the five other plains tribes joining us.

Washington's response was to send five hundred or so mounted men, two troops of cavalry. We found out about them when Sam Wilson, our first pilot, spotted them. They were just outside St. Louis and coming hard. We had scouted around us out to a hundred miles so we picked out where we wanted to meet Washington's representatives.

When it came time to leave we invited Col. Mayes to go with us. He thought we were just going for a ride. The Sioux, Cheyenne, and other new recruits were all being trained at six new sites. This was done because Leavenworth was getting pretty crowded. That, and the fact we were learning to distrust the good Col. Mayes.

This came about because Tess and Barbara Mayes, the Colonel's daughters, had quietly joined the Band. It seems that they had fallen for a young trooper and this led them to report every thing their father mentioned. Like many families of this time the slavery issue had split the Mayes family. The Colonel brooked no opinions other than his own and, while he was somewhat tolerant of slaves, the man could not stand Native Americans. His daughters simply began listening to their parents conversations and forwarded that information to the Band.

How we kept the news of the new tribes joining us quiet I'll never know, but it was worth it just to see the look on the Colonel's face. We had left Leavenworth with just the 1st Company. Ten miles out we were joined by what was now a fraction of the Band's troops, some fifty five hundred men and women mounted and armed. The look of surprise on the Colonel's face was something to see. That look was repeated when we arrived at the ambush location and he saw another five thousand plus troopers.

"Well Colonel, how do you like the welcome we've put together for the men Washington is sending?" I asked. His reply was interrupted when Robert Mutu, Margaret Mary O'Riley, and Sam Wilson flew over at altitude in the attack helicopters that the aliens had supplied. The three helicopters rocked their stubby wings and flew out of sight to wait for orders.

The new helicopters were sleek and super fast. They could be quiet as a mouse or as loud as a tornado in a cymbal factory. Red Hawk, Fanny, Col. Mayes, and I were sitting on our horses on a hill over looking the valley that the five companies were riding through. When they were half way through Red Hawk turned to Fanny, "Give the signal. Colonel you're going to want to get off of your horse."

The Colonel looked around to see that he was the only one still mounted. "Here they come!" Fanny yelled excitedly.

The Colonel looked where Fanny was pointing, "Oh! It's those flying machines." He had no more than got the words out of his mouth when the entire valley was rocked as each of the helicopters came roaring through the valley at little more than head high.

Between the noise and the dust, they turned the five hundred mounted cavalry into the world's biggest rodeo. Most of the five hundred men were either on the ground or off chasing their mounts. Red Hawk gave the signal and the valley started filling with the buckskin clad members of the Band. Some rode in while others seem to come up out of the ground as they stood up from their hidden foxholes.

Since most of the United States soldiers had lost their rifles when their horses ran off, they were putting their hands in the air as fast as they could. Their commanding officer, a Captain, looked around him and then had one of his sergeants quickly make a white flag.

Red Hawk turned and whistled for a colour guard. When the colour guard rode up, he asked them to make a white flag. Once that was done we rode to meet the young Captain.

Red Hawk, a rather dusty Col. Mayes, he hadn't quite made it off his horse when the helos flew over, and I rode down with the colour guard. When the young Captain saw our flag he gave the order to uncase their colours even though they were afoot.

When we got to the Captain he saluted and then offered us his sword. We returned his salute causing him to look to the Colonel for help. Red Hawk wasn't sure what the sword gesture meant. He turned and looked questioningly at me. "He's offering his surrender."

Red Hawk turned and looked at the young Captain, "Has President Polk declared war on us?"

The Captain was flummoxed, I wasn't sure if it was Red Hawk's question or the fact he now spoke near perfect English. He stuttered a bit then said, "ah No, no sir," he corrected.

Red Hawk chuckled quietly, "Then I have no need of your sword. I am Red Hawk. This is Col. Mayes, the current commander of Ft. Leavenworth, and on his other side is Tom Dunlap. Who are you and what do your orders say to do with us?"

"Captain William Dumas, Sir. I was supposed to use what ever means necessary to break up your group and bring the leaders in for trial."

Red Hawk's brow wrinkled, "Trial for what? We have broken none of your laws. We couldn't have, we are on our own land." Red Hawk turned to me and spoke in Comanche. It was all I could do not to break out laughing. Red Hawk turned back to the captain, "So the United states is declaring war on us?"

Capt. Dumas was even more flummoxed, "Well no, not exactly, but ... Yes Sir. I guess they are."

Red Hawk smiled and turned to a thirteen year old Negro girl who was part of the colour guard, "Hattie, show the Captain how fast you can shoot forty rounds. Your target is the right side if that locust tree."

Hattie turned her pony with her knees and rode a few feet to the left and stopped. She patted her pony on the neck and flipped the selector switch to auto. Then she aimed at the area Red Hawk had given her and pulled the trigger. Seconds later she changed her empty magazine for a full one and emptied it also, "Forty rounds on target sir." Red Hawk grinned and winked at her as she beamed from ear to ear. She loaded another clip in her rifle, chambered a round and then rode back into formation not once using her hands to guide the horse.

Red Hawk turned to the captain, "We have several thousand troopers, all with weapons like that. In a month we will double what we have now, all armed and trained. I doubt your government could defeat us with the weapons that you have available. And that rifle, as you've seen, is not our most powerful weapon. Gather your men Captain." From all over the narrow valley Buckskinned riders brought the soldiers mounts. Other Band troopers brought spare mounts and picked up the people who had manned the foxholes.

It took almost a half hour for all of the troops on both sides to clear the valley. Red Hawk nodded to me and I gave a whistle command. That whistle was echoed through all one hundred and fifteen companies. "Captain, will you please check if all of your people are present and accounted for?" I asked. The captain ordered five lieutenants who screamed at five sergeants who took off to carry out the order. "Captain, as you may have guessed, our commands are given using a series of whistles."

"What was that command that you gave a few minutes ago?" the captain asked.

Before I could answer Capt. Maggie Mills, who had been promoted to Red Hawk's adjutant, slid her horse to a stop and saluted. As soon as Red Hawk returned it she reported, "All present and accounted for Sir!" She then took her place beside Red Hawk. I indicated with a nod my answer. It was twenty minutes later before the five sergeants reported.

Red Hawk turned to the Captain, "Capt. Dumas, please dismount your men and have them hold their mounts tight. This will be very loud." We waited while they went through the same routine of passing the orders down from one level to the next. When they were all dismounted, "Normally I would give the whistle command myself. For today I will speak the command to Capt. Mills and she will give the whistle command. I am sure that you are going to have some questions. You'll forgive us if we are vague or do not answer at all. Please don't try to ask any of our troopers as it could get you shot before Capt. Mills or I could ever stop it. Capt. Mills, dismount your troops and secure their mounts."

Maggie whistled the command 'attention' and listened as it was echoed down the long line of mounted troops. Suddenly the entire body of troopers came to attention. She whistled 'prepare to dismount' followed closely by the order to dismount and secure horses. Capt. Dumas and his lieutenants watched open mouthed as over ten thousand troopers dismounted as one.

"Excuse me Sir," the captain spoke to Red Hawk, "This may be one of those questions you won't answer, but can you tell me how many troops you have here?"

Red Hawk turned to his adjutant Capt. Mills, "One hundred and fifteen companies Sir!" she replied to Red Hawk.

Red Hawk smiled at the shocked look on Capt. Dumas' face, "With one hundred to a company that's eleven thousand five hundred. And before you ask, this is just a small fraction of the troops we have trained and ready. I will not give you an exact count." One of the lieutenants had a very stunned look on his face. Red Hawk handed Capt. Dumas a set of circa 2007 binoculars, "Now Captain, if you will look at the trail where you were, you will see that we have marked off the points that indicate the front and very rear of where your column halted." The captain was too stunned by the optics of the binoculars to do anything more than nod his head.

When one of the lieutenants pulled out a battered brass telescope Maggie snapped her fingers and five more binoculars appeared, causing the lieutenant with the telescope to utter an audible curse. Red Hawk laughed quietly and then turned to Maggie, "Order the 1st Artillery to give me four rounds of smoke." Maggie whistled the command which, unknown to Capt. Dumas and his men, was relayed by radio to Maggie's other half. Major Mill's position was twenty miles to our rear with the heavy artillery.

The air was suddenly ripped as four rounds came streaking in unseen to explode at the front, rear, left and right of the column markers. "Tell the Major he has the target bracketed and to fire eight rounds of HE." Maggie once again whistled the orders and seconds later four explosions went off with almost no separation. They were followed only a fraction of a second later by four more explosions, "Capt. Dumas, in case you're curious, those eight rounds were fired by a four gun battery located over twenty miles behind us."

It was eerily quiet as Red Hawk waited for the smoke and dust to clear. When it did, there were eight craters evenly spaced right down the middle of the trail. Capt. Dumas and his officers were completely silent as they realised that we could have killed each and every one of them and they would have barely heard the shells that killed them. Red Hawk didn't give them much time to dwell on those facts, "Have 2nd Artillery march twelve mortar rounds of HE from the front of the column markers to the rear." Maggie once again whistled the commands, but these didn't have to be relayed as the 2nd's mortars were less than a hundred yards away.

Capt. Dumas and his men watched in awe as the three mortars fired and the rounds started exploding one after the other. Once again Red Hawk paused to let the dust and smoke settle. "Signal Attack Squadron Delta and have them make their pass." While Maggie was whistling, the signal once again was being relayed by radio unbeknownst to the US troops. "You have already experienced the non lethal weapons of our aircraft. This will give you a small indication of what they are capable of." Red Hawk pointed to a small speck just above the horizon. Seconds later the aircraft roared overhead swooping down into the valley, the vicious buzz of the twin miniguns nearly drowning out the sound of the choppers rotor blades.

Capt. Dumas strangled out a cry, "God have mercy."

Red Hawk turned on the man, "Your God will have to have mercy on you because we won't. If the United States chooses to go to war with us know this. We will not take prisoners. Your wounded will be left to die. Your dead will feed the buzzards and coyotes."

"Tom tells me that your government bought this land from the French. The French had no right to sell nor did the Spanish. We claim all of the plains from the Missouri river to western slope of the Rocky Mountains. We also claim the western half of Texas. Have your government send representatives and we will work out the borders."

"You may continue to travel along the Oregon and Santa Fe trails, but we do not believe in slavery and we will free every one that we find. You and your men are welcome to come to Ft. Leavenworth to rest up before returning, this will let you see how we live. I think you'll find we really believe that all people, men and women, have equal rights. Tom says that this will threaten your people more than our guns or land claims."

The young Captain nodded, "I'm afraid he's right."

-------

The ride back to Ft. Leavenworth was uneventful. Not so our arrival at the fort. Red Hawk had ordered that when Col. Mayes left the fort the US flag was to come down and the Band's colours were to be run up. We had explained to the noncoms and enlisted men what the colonel had done and they weren't happy in the least. Most of them considered the colonel a coward for deserting them when Black's men had attacked. There were only two officers other than the colonel owing to the war with Mexico siphoning off most of the good officers.

Those two, a very bitter captain and a young lieutenant, who had a nervous breakdown after being sodomized by several of Black's men, had given Two Horses permission to do so. The look on the colonel's face when he saw the blue flag with the five hands of different colours holding on to each other and forming a circle, was a sight to see. He spurred his horse to a dead run headed to the fort to find out what was going on.

If the flag made him angry, what he found at the fort made him furious. The embittered captain was smiling like a jackass eating cactus. His brand new buckskin suit and the rank and responsibilities that went with it had made a new man out of him. He stopped the colonel at the gate and, after saluting in the Band fashion, stood that way for several seconds waiting for the colonel to return his salute. When the red faced colonel failed to do so, he dropped his hand and demanded, "Please state your business here."

The colonel looked like he was about to bust a blood vessel by the time we rode up. Our arrival finally jarred his first words. He turned to Captain Dumas, "Arrest this man for desertion."

Two Horses rode up about then, "He didn't desert, he resigned his commission, as for the rest of the men save Lt. Smith and he's in no condition to make such a decision they do not want to serve under an officer that deserted them under fire. Your wife is living with the Blacksmith and his wife."

"And my daughters?" he shouted back.

Two Horses smiled, "They sir, have joined the Band." The colonel went to draw his pistol. Since I was closest, I simply drew my sword, rolled it in my hand, and hit his wrist with the back of the blade, knocking the pistol from his hand before he could cock it.

I turned to Capt. Dumas, "Will you take responsibility for him?"

"Yes Sir, Mr. Dunlap I will. Colonel, consider yourself under arrest."

Col. Mayes head snapped around, "On what charges?"

"We'll begin with desertion in the face of the enemy," the captain replied.

"This is the enemy," Col. Mayes pointed all around him at the members of the band, "this ... this bunch of miscegenated spawn are an abomination to God."

"Then let God deal with them. You have troubles enough of your own." Capt. Dumas turned to Red Hawk, "Sir, may I use the fort's stockade? I'll be glad to furnish the guards."

"That will be fine captain. Will you join us tonight at six for supper?"

"Yes Sir, I'd be honoured," Capt. Dumas saluted Red Hawk and then led his prisoner to be locked up.

One of the captain's sergeants escorted the colonel to jail, Red Hawk turned to Fanny, "Please go to Mrs. Hand and tell her we will be having an official diner in the big hall." Fanny saluted then spun her horse and took off at a full gallop. Captain Dumas was staring open mouthed, "If you think that's something you should see her get mounted."

Red Hawk must have thought it was worth the trouble so he whistled recall. Fanny's horse froze in mid-stride and slid to a stop faster than any roping horse I'd ever seen. The next move the horse made was to rise up on its hind legs. I'm not even sure how it turned around but the next thing we knew she was headed back at us as fast as she'd left.

Fanny slid to a stop, saluted, "Sir! Did I forget something, Sir?"

"No Fanny, I just thought that if the captain here was impressed with your departure a while ago he should see you get on. Would you dismount and then mount up and carry out your orders?" Red Hawk smiled and turned to the captain, "Watch this."

"Sir, yes sir!" Fanny slid off her horse, "From here Sir?"

"That's fine Fanny," Red Hawk replied.

Fanny told her horse to bow in Comanche. The horse lowered the front half of his body by straightening both forelegs and stretching backwards. Fanny grabbed both hands full of mane, then spoke something unintelligible to the horse and away she went. The horse reared up and spun flinging the tiny Fanny back across the saddle. She hit the McClellan saddle with her butt and both legs on one side. As soon as the horse's front legs hit the ground it and Fanny were off at a dead run. After she bounced about twice sitting side saddle she flung her other leg over the saddle as she let out a yell.

We were sitting in awe and some of the captain's soldiers were clapping. I don't care how many times you've seen that four foot nothing get on her horse that way it still is amazing. Red Hawk turned to the captain, "Can any of your children do that?"

The captain shook his head, "I doubt there are very many grown men that could do that."

Red Hawk turned to Maggie, "Dismiss the troops, but call all of the company commanders here, please Maggie"

Maggie saluted, turned her horse and gave the commands dismissing the troops and calling the company commanders.

Red Hawk dismissed the captain and me so I left to go give my girls the good news that they could put on their fancy dresses. It took me a little bit to find them. Since Two Horses had taken the fort over he had moved the girls into what was now being called the surgeon's quarters. It was a medium sized house with a large warehouse next door. Zack and his crew of carpenters had cleaned out the mostly empty building and then built a connecting hallway between the house and building. The girls also had Amos and his guys partition off two rooms in the building.

That's where one Lt. Smith was now lying. The brutal rape that he had suffered at the hands of Black's men had left him with physical and mental wounds that were yet to heal. Ever since Lt. Smith had been found he had become my wife Mae's personal project. When I walked into the house I found it empty. I could hear yelling coming from what we later called the 'ward' so I headed that way.

The yelling turned out to be a very red faced Mae. She had a revolver in her hand and she was screaming at the lieutenant, "You want to die?" A sobbing lieutenant had his head down refusing to look at her. "Well? Look, I've told you a hundred times, dying is easy. It's the living that's hard!" The lieutenant looked up at Mae just for a second and then ducked his head and sobbed even harder. Mae's face seemed to get even redder, "You think you're the first person that this has ever happened to! Well you're not!" Mae pulled the cylinder then dropping it into her apron and the pistol on the foot of the bed and then pulled both sides of the front of her dress. Buttons flew in every direction, "Look! Look damn you! I was raped too! My anus was ripped! My pussy was ripped! And they did this. Look at me! Damn you!"

The lieutenant looked up saw the scars on her back and gasped, "Oh my God!"

"If I can survive, if I can go on living, there's no reason you can't," Mae pulled her dress up and held it together with one hand, "If you decide you still want to die you do it somewhere other than my hospital" Mae picked up the gun and turned around to leave and ran straight in to me. "I..."

I picked her up in my arms and carried her into the house. She held together until we were out of ear shot of the ward and then she burst into tears. I sat in the parlour with Mae in my lap as she cried. I'm not sure how long we sat like that before the rest of my wives came in and by that time Mae had drifted off to sleep. Mae's ripped dress and tear stained cheeks were more than enough to put them on the war path. I laid Mae gently down on the small sofa and moved into the kitchen. It took a little bit to explain what had happened. Almost as an aside I told them of the official dinner at six. That caused me to get a raft of dirty looks as they squealed and ran to the bedroom to get ready. That included a 'you should have told me' from Mae as she ran holding her tattered dress. Oh well, I am still learning.



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Chapter 17


We kept an eye on Captain Dumas as he made his way back to Washington D.C. I joked that I sure would like to be a fly on the wall when he made his report. I then had to explain to Narith the meaning of the phrase. He smiled after hearing my explanation and said "No problem," A phrase he had become very fond of saying. He deployed a bug that attached itself to the good Captain.

Being as how it was Narith's technology the bug was orders of magnitude more complicated than any thing I'd ever seen, and that included the stuff Hollywood dreamed up. So I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. Narith's little bug burrowed its way into the Captain's brain, and from there began to send us back audio and video data, but that wasn't the surprise. No, the surprise came when it started sending back the Captain's thoughts.

It was over a month before the Captain and his men made it to Washington. Capt. Dumas didn't even bother to knock the trail dust off before going to his commanding officer, a Col. Williams, and giving his report. He had struggled all the way back over what to say in his report. In the end he had urged his government to accept the terms of the Band and sue for peace. He knew that his opinion that there was no way that the US Army could defeat them in battle would not sit well.

His commanding officer's face had gone blaze red when he read the captain's assessment. Without saying a word he had stormed out of his office and headed to the commanding general. General Smith read the report that his underling had shoved in front of him. Looking up and seeing the young captain standing in the doorway hat in hand, he invited him into the room. We listened as Capt. Dumas explained that the Band now included all of the Plains Indians. The General didn't have a hard time believing that the Indians had united, but he couldn't believe the claims the Captain made about the Band's weapons. The General pulled out a pocket watch and looked at the time. He called an aid in and asked for his carriage to be brought to the front of the building.

After dismissing the Colonel the General asked for Capt. Dumas to come with him. When the carriage started up the drive to the White House the Captain was wishing he taken the time to clean up.

-------

General Smith and Capt. Dumas were led to the President's living room. The General handed Capt. Dumas' report to the President, "Sir, this is Capt. Dumas." General Smith expected the President to acknowledge the Captain, but he didn't. He just kept reading the written report.

President Polk was anxious to read the report. He had already heard that the Captain hadn't brought anyone in with him as he'd been ordered to do. James K. Polk was a firm believer in 'Manifest Destiny': the belief that the United States was ordained by God to expand to all the land between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Captain Dumas watched as the President's face grew dark, wishing he had given the letter of resignation he had in his pocket to the General before they saw the President. As he watched the President get more and more angry he was regretting his decision even more.

When he had finished reading the report he threw it on the floor, "No bunch of damn Indians and Niggers are going to claim the entire centre section of this continent. I'll have the Army go through there and wipe them off the face of the earth."

"Sir, you can't!" Capt. Dumas exclaimed, "They can slaughter any force you can send against them. Their weapons are..."

Interrupting the President screamed, "Bullshit! That's what they are. General you need to send the Captain to a doctor he seems to be hallucinating,"

-------

We sat in the communications wagon listening to President Polk rant and rave. Red Hawk turned to me, "What if we had the pilots take me, you, and three squads to this Washington DC. We could talk to this Polk and convince him that the Captain was right. Maybe bring him back here and show him what we can do now."

I couldn't think of a better idea so I nodded my head. Red Hawk turned to Fanny, "Go alert the pilots of Alpha Flight and tell Red Hand we need three of his best squads." Fanny saluted and started out of the wagon when Red Hawk called her back, "Tell them to bring some of these stunners that Narith gave us." Fanny saluted again and disappeared into the night. A flurry of whistles could be heard around the camp as men and women hurried to their duties.

"Well if you want me to go, and I am assuming you do, I best go inform my wives." I started out of the wagon.

Red Hawk laughed, "Learned your lesson about slipping off have you?"

I shook my head in wonder, "Boy howdy! Nothing stays a secret for long around here does it?" I left to laughter behind me.

As soon as I explained to my wives what was going on, Beth gave Jana a look that got her up buckling on her pistols. I opened my mouth to say something and thought better of it. I kissed my wives and grabbed the two mobile med kits while Jana grabbed the heart and vitals monitor that Narith had given us and we headed across the camp.

The helicopters of Alpha Flight could best be described as Blackhawks on steroids. Big enough to carry three squads in a pinch, they normally only carried one and their equipment. So there would be plenty of room for all that were going. Jana and I got in and buckled up; ten minutes later we were lifting off.

It was a long tiresome five hour flight. At just after four in the morning the first of Alpha flights three helicopters touched silently touched down on the Whitehouse lawn. The big difference between the alien built helos and the ones of my time was just how quiet that they could be. When any of the alien built craft went into stealth mode no noise above a whisper could be heard. That had let us land undetected. Jana and I sat quietly waiting as the three squads of Red Hand's commandos left the helicopters to their assigned spot.

It was a long fifteen minutes before we heard the all secure signal over our headsets. Jana hopped up and went to the door looking for herself to see if it was safe for me to get out. I came up behind her and goosed her. Boy, did I get a look. We stepped out of the open door and I signalled to the pilot to take off. The three birds would fly cover for us while we were on the ground.

Red Hawk walked up to us and we followed him up the lawn and straight through the front door of the Whitehouse. The Presidential guards had all been stunned and moved to a room where they could be watched. Red Hawk went in and shook the President awake. Needless to say he was less than happy about getting woke up. Very unhappy when he found out who it was that had woke him.

Two of the female troopers and Jana took Mrs. Polk into another room to dress and they started telling her about the Band and how women were treated. It was Red Hawk's idea, knowing that the women behind the men would be a good place to start changing their attitude toward us.

It was forty five minutes after we landed that General Smith and Capt. Dumas arrived. The President was dressed by that time and although less than happy about being forced to leave with us, he saw no other options. A signal from Red Hand and the three helos descended. I gave our guests an injection that Narith said would ease their motion sickness and off we went headed back to Ft. Leavenworth.

We had been in the air about ten minutes when the Captain grinned at the President, "Enjoying your hallucination Mr. President?"

"You're right Capt. Dumas I owe you an apology. I'm sorry for doubting you," the President responded.

"It's Mister not Captain I resigned last night after I left you. But don't worry," he opened the brown paper wrapped package sitting in his lap in enough to show the new set of buckskins. "I was going to resign anyway. This flight is just going to save me a long ride."

"Can I ask what you are going to do with us?" the President asked me.

I smiled at him, "Sure you can ask. But you were introduced to our leader and he's sitting right beside you. Why don't you ask him rather than me?" The President had a shocked look on his face.

"I am the President of the United States, why are you being so disrespectful?"

"Simple sir, you are disrespecting our leader. Would you like Red Hawk to ignore you and explain everything to the General over there?"

"But ... he's ... an Indian!"

"And you sir, are an ignorant white man. What's your point?" I watched him squirm. Then I winked at Red Hawk.

Red Hawk smiled broadly and spoke directly at the President in perfect English, "We have the power and ability to conquer you and your people. The ease with which we captured you should show you that. What you should be happy about, and what I'm sure that you will be happy about by the time you sleep in your bed again, is this: we have no desire whatsoever to conquer you. If we did, understand this, we would immediately make these changes. Slavery ends, all citizens get equal rights, which means, women get all the rights that white men have now. As do all people of colour, be they former slaves male or female, or native peoples, Indians to you."

The President sat in shocked silence thinking what Red Hawk's speech would mean. He turned and looked at his wife. She was grinning from ear to ear, "Trying to decide what their rules would mean for you and your friends, Jimmy?" The President's face went blaze red, "I would say that your 'Manifest Destiny' just got very expensive, wouldn't you?"

President Polk was absently nodding his head. He looked up at Red Hawk, "What now?"

"Now we fly back to our base and we give you a demonstration. It should clear up the Captain's hallucinations for you," Red Hawk winked at the former captain.

Red Hawk nudged Fanny and she handed him a clipboard. He started writing out orders when he finished he handed it to me. I read over the orders, signed them and handed them back, "Looks good to me." Red Hawk signed the orders and added the day's code word and then handed them over to Fanny.

Fanny unbuckled herself stood and saluted. She then took the orders to the communication officer who began sending the coded message.

Red Hawk watched the President watching the young girl, "She's setting up a demonstration for you. We'll watch the first part from in here.

The President sat silently thinking about what had been said. Suddenly it came to him, "Hallucinations! The Captain's hallucinations, how did you know about that?"

Red Hawk smiled, "We were listening to you. I'm not going to tell you how, but we heard and saw everything you said and did. Fanny hand me that vid screen." Red Hawk took the alien made vid screen and started the recording that we had made. The President watched in shocked silence.

The rest of the trip was quiet. Since Red Hawk had made the third squad ride in one of the other helos there was lots of room in ours. Deciding to take advantage of the space I unbuckled and took Jana over in a dark corner for a little snuggling.

-------

Fanny came and nudged us awake as we were approaching the first of the camps. When we went back to our seats Mrs. Polk asked, "Are you two newlyweds?"

"Oh no ma'am, it's just that Jana..." anything else I was going to say was interrupted by Jana's elbow. That was followed by that look that all married men know and dread. So I rethought my next comment, "Jana is one of my seven wives."

"Oh my! Are there many plural marriages in your group?" she asked.

I started to speak when Jana gave me the 'you've said enough' look and started explaining, "Well, before the other plains tribes joined us it seemed like almost everybody had more than one wife, and several women had two husbands, but it wasn't as common with the others and there are so many of them and more joining every day."

I noticed that her last comment caused the President's eye brows to rise. It wasn't that she had let out a secret, hell none of us were sure how big the Band was now. As news spread from tribe to tribe new groups reported for training all the time.

I watched out the window as the two helos carrying the three squads broke out of formation and descended. We were joined by four of the Delta flight attack helos. Capt. Dumas pointed out the window, "Those are the flying machines I saw in action. Do you see those guns on the outside of them Mr. President?" He nodded as he watched out the window. "Those things could wipe out company after company. I was allowed to fire my pistol at one from five feet. It didn't even put a noticeable dent in it. When you declare war on them how are you going to stop those? Oh yeah, and remember they can start shooting at you the first day you put men in the saddle. There is no way in hell that you can get a force big enough to attack them and if you did their other weapons would wipe you out long before you were ever a threat."

The President turned on Dumas and stared at him. Dumas smiled and the President sighed, "Red Hawk can those machines make it to Washington?"

"As easy as we did," Red Hawk responded. About that time a green light came on. Normally that would be our signal to bail out if we were making a parachute drop, something we had just added to our arsenal. "Mr. President we are about to fly over Training Camp Fox."

I smiled to myself as the President looked out of the window to see hundreds of tepees, and wagons, but it was what was in the open area in front of them that held his attention. There, in front of the tepees and wagons, were what looked like thousands of mounted troops. In the front of the group was a trooper holding a bright blue flag. The same flag he had seen on the right sleeve of the people who had jerked him out of bed. He had a sick look about him as he looked down. He would have been about nineteen when the British had burned the Whitehouse in their attempt to retake the colonies. That had been their test. Could they stand as a nation? The answer then had been yes. I watched as he mindlessly watched the trees and hills pass by, wondering what he was thinking. When his eyes caught another camp on the horizon he turned from the window. Before he could ask Red Hawk answered, "Training Camp Eagle."

So it went Eagle, Dog, Cougar, Bear, Antelope, and then Ft. Leavenworth, where there were even more troops; thousands and thousands of well trained cavalry. Then there were the flying machines and other things that Capt. Dumas had written in his report. I couldn't help but laugh as the sudden realisation dawned on him that the things he had laughed at were things that he now knew would change the face of the country that he and others had dreamed of. History had taught me that he and the other 'Manifest Destiny' proponents had envisioned a White America. That America would encompass every square mile between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Some had even dreamed of invading Canada and making it a part of the great nation they were building. President Polk was pulled out of his daydream when Red Hawk spoke to him, "We are about to land at one of our training sites."

The President looked out to see what appeared to be a small town. A few minutes later we were all getting out of the helicopter. We went to the edge of the hill and watched as the two helos that had left Washington with us flew over the small town. The helicopters were virtually silent as they came to a stop over the town and troopers began to descend on ropes. In minutes the two empty helos flew off as the troopers went from building to building clearing them with deadly efficiency. Mrs. Polk smiled at her husband's discomfort, "Isn't that amazing? And half of them are women too!"

That had been all that was necessary for the President. He turned to Red Hawk, "Show me what you want for borders."

Red Hawk snapped his fingers and Fanny stepped up and handed the President a large map. The map showed the whole of the North American continent.

The President let out a long low whistle, "The Texans will never go for this!" I smiled at him and asked, "You think that they would rather us use the Sabine River as the border? Remember slaves freed and able to vote, women voting and owning property. We thought we were being pretty generous; most of that area is near desert."

The President had been nodding his head as I had been talking, "I'm sure that they'll learn to live with it. It is more than a little uncomfortable negotiating from the weak side."

"Learn to like it." General Smith walked up with Red Hand and Broken Knife. He had watched the twenty troopers clear the mock town and knew what he was seeing, "If they decided that they didn't want white men on this side of the Atlantic you'd be negotiating for a good cabin on the ship headed back to England."

"Are you saying that there is no way that we can defeat these people?"

"Yes, that's what I'm saying, the same thing that Capt. Dumas was saying. Any place that you pick to gather troops had better be easy digging, because as soon as you start massing for an attack they are going to start massacring them. Your assembly area will be your cemetery." General Smith was shaking his head. He hated politicians who didn't listen. He thought back on the chain of events that had led them to this place. Capt. Dumas had written a very thorough report and he didn't believe him. Then thirty buckskinned troops snatched him out of his own bed in the middle of the night and flew him over thousands more of those highly trained troops and still he didn't get it. He stopped shaking his head and looked at the President, "You were going to agree to everything and then when you were back safe in Washington you were going to order me to attack these people weren't you? Don't you remember just a few hours ago these same people took you from Washington? If you decide to fight, nowhere will be safe."

The President looked like a little boy who had just got caught sucking eggs. He was looking back and forth between us and the General. Apparently his wife had caught enough of the conversation to figure out what was going on, "Well Jimmy? Is that right?"

Mrs. Polk looked pissed but then so did Red Hawk. "Maggie," Red Hawk called out.

Maggie covered the ten or fifteen feet that had been between her and Red Hawk at a dead run. She came to attention and saluted, "Sir?"

"Run the red flag up. Send riders to Independence and St. Jo tell them that the Oregon and Santa Fe trails are closed until further notice. All wagon trains will be turned back with force if necessary. And lastly put this two faced liar in one of our attack helos and get him and his wife back to Washington as fast as they can. Then get back here and get armed. We will begin our attack at midnight." Maggie stopped at the flag pole and ran the colours down and then back up with a blood red flag underneath the blue flag of the Band.

Fanny had been writing furiously trying to keep up with the orders that Red Hawk had been giving. Riders started sliding to a stop waiting for the orders that Fanny was writing. "What's going on? What does that red flag mean?" the President asked.

"Well Jimmy you know, I'm a woman and not smart enough to vote or anything, but I'd say you just started a second war. Do you think Red Hawk and his people will be the pushovers that Santa Anna and his troops have been?"

The President turned from glaring at his wife to see General Smith striping off his uniform coat. Before the President could ask what he was doing the General handed him the note he had scribbled as Mrs. Polk was dressing him down, "I resign my commission." Turning to Red Hawk the General asked, "Red Hawk can my wife and children seek refuge with your people?"'

The President was looking none too bueno, "You would go to war that easily?"

Red Hawk pounced on him, "Easily? What you call easy I call treachery. What would happen if you pulled that same thing on Great Britain, France, or one of the other European powers?" Polk's head went down, but he didn't answer right away.

Finally Polk looked up, a beaten man, "What do you want me to do? You don't know it, but there is a group of very influential men in this country and they have already made plans for all of the land between the Atlantic and the Pacific. There is even one bunch who are planning to invade Canada. As soon as I announce that you are forming your own country they will start putting pressure on congress and me to go to war with you."

Red Hawk shook his head, "Even if it is certain that they will lose and what the consequences of losing will be?"

"Red Hawk, I think I have an idea." Everyone turned to look at me, "Mr. President, would these so called influential men come to a meeting at the Whitehouse if you asked them?"

"Yes, I'm sure they would if they knew it was to plan what to do about your new country. By the way what are you going to call your new country?"

Red Hawk smiled, "We have talked about this in our council. We will call it Freeland."



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Chapter 18


The next night a single helicopter used the darkness and landed unseen on the Whitehouse lawn. It returned President Polk, Mrs. Polk, and former General, now trooper, Joshua Smith. Trooper Smith used the President's carriage to go fetch his young wife and three children. Sarah Beth was Joshua's second wife. His first wife had died during childbirth and the baby, a little girl, died the next day. The first thing that Joshua had noticed after the Band's military was the number of children he saw.

As a general he understood numbers and if there were this many children there was a reason. That reason he found was the superior health care. Having lost a wife and a child he knew better than most how important that was. Sarah Beth was just as quick to understand and in less than an hour they had gathered their most important belongings and were headed back to the helicopter. The Smith family's new life with the Band began when the helicopter lifted off and started the five hour journey to their new home.

While Joshua and his family were packing the President was putting my plan in action. First he drafted a letter to all of the men who were pushing 'Manifest Destiny.' His staff would spend a sleepless night making the many copies needed to lure all of these important men to the Whitehouse. Once he had finished the final draft a very tired President Polk retired to his bedroom.

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Once the letters were sent all we had to do was wait until all the players were gathered for the big planning meeting. That's when we would spring the trap, and capture all of the unsuspecting men. Rumours of the Band were all over the place, from deadly heathens to heroes.

One thing we had accomplished was that lawbreakers from the United States no longer fled across the river looking for a haven. Our patrols now ranged from the Canadian border to the big spring in what would have been west Texas. The patrols were now a minimum of three squads and as many as six or seven in areas where we had regular problems.

Our biggest regular problem was without a doubt the Pawnee. With spring beginning I was looking forward to the birth of my first child, but spring also meant wagon trains headed west. Beth went into labour on the first day of March 1848. Two hours after she had begun a rider came in with news of a Pawnee attack on a wagon train. I was quickly informed that I would be a whole lot more help to the wagon train than walking circles and worrying over Beth. Jana and Mae grabbed our med kits and escorted me to a waiting helicopter.

In the helicopter I found Red Hawk and two squads of Red Hand's best commandos and all their kit. It was a short hop with the helicopter to the stalled wagon train. Red Hawk had the pilot get on the loud speaker and announced who we were. They still seemed like they were ready to shoot first and talk about it later, but having been in that same situation I understood how they felt. After we sat down a group of armed men came out to meet us. Red Hawk explained who we were and what we were doing there. As soon as they heard we had medical help they were like long lost cousins.

Mae and Jana started doing triage while I got four of the commandos to help me set up a place to work on the worst of the wounded. This included an alien made tent where I could work without everyone looking over my shoulder. My confidence in what I was doing had gone up by leaps and bounds after getting training from Narith and his people. One of the gizmos that they had given us was a suitcase size device that would put the person in suspended animation while I worked on them.

I had just got it set up when Mae sent me my first patient. Susie was a very cute, but very frightened ten year old girl with an arrow in her chest. Mae and I put her in the stabiliser and then we went to work. Mae had enough training to be a doctor on her own, but she would rather help me than be the doctor. That made her a top shelf surgical nurse.

We ran what amounted to a fibre optic camera along the shaft of the arrow. The arrow had passed through the top part of her left lung and embedded the head in the backside of her heart. After removing the arrow and using the laser to seal off the bleeders we were able to stitch up everything on our way out. It was not the first time for me to use the alien device on an arrow wound, but every time I did I was reminded of the old joke about the gynecologist putting the engine together through the tail pipe. In 1848 it was as close to magic as it possibly could be. Within thirty minutes we were bringing the girl out of stasis and putting the next patient under. Jana gave the girl a shot to help her with the pain while we worked on the next patient. That's the way it went for the next three hours. Jana patched three women and two men that had through and through wounds in arms and legs.

When Mae and I walked out of the tent after working on the last one we had most of the adults from the train waiting on us. We were swarmed with thank you's and atta boy's with one glaring exception. Susie's mother and father were there and they were not happy. Susie was one of seven kids and apparently they had already written her off. Me and Mae were accused of all matter of witchcraft. We were also informed that they would be leaving the girl.

I was just about to light into the bitch when I felt Jana touch my arm and then she lit into the woman, "That's fine! We'll be glad to take the girl back with us. She'll be better off being raised with educated and loving people." Jana turned to walk over to the girl.

"Now you just wait a minute!" the father said as he grabbed for Jana's buckskin shirt.

Mae handed me my katana knowing I was about to lose my temper, "Mister you touch her and you'll never touch another thing with that hand." I brought the sword up ready to act.

"She can't talk to me and my wife like that," the man hadn't noticed that the four commandos assigned to help with the wounded and over half of the men from the wagon train had hands on weapons.

I quietly whistled 'at ease' "You've given up on your daughter. Why don't you go on back to your wagon before you make your wife a widow."

I wasn't too sure what he was going to do, but finally his wife took him by the arm and they left for their wagon. I turned to the four commandos, "Let's get that tent down and back in the chopper." Mae had folded up the stasis unit and Jana had already taken most of med kits back to the helicopter.

Red Hawk came around when he saw the tent come down and with him was the Captain of the wagon train. Red Hawk wanted to know what we lacked being ready to go. I explained to him and the Captain about the little girl and the Captain just shook his head. Before the Captain could say anything Red Hawk raised his hand because he was getting something over his head set. He listened for a few seconds and then whistled our call to arms.

Jana had been close enough to the helicopter to hear the first radio transmission and she was already running toward us with our weapons and a small backpack full of extra ammo. Red Hawk took the four commandos that had been helping us and ran over to get them in position. "What is it Jana?" I asked as she ran up to us.

"Robert Mutu has spotted around thirty Pawnee headed this way." She handed Mae and I our M4's and two 'Alice type' backpacks with ammo. Mine had grenades for my launcher. We had just got the last of our patients in a safe place when the Pawnee stopped on the hill about two hundred meters out. Jana handed me the headset she was wearing, "Here honey, Red Hawk wants you."

Red Hawk asked me if I thought it would be safe enough for Robert to make a pass with his attack helicopter. I told him I thought so as long as they were at least seventy five meters out and he could run parallel to the wagons. I listened as Red Hawk gave Robert the orders. When I looked up trying to find Robert, Jana quickly pointed him out to me. We watched as Robert put his helicopter into a steep dive.

Mae laughed, "I sure am glad I'm not riding in the jump seat I'd be puking my guts out right about now."

Robert levelled off and opened up with the mini guns. The Pawnee were cut to ribbons. Apparently Robert had tried to spare some of the horses by coming in like he did, but it was still a mess. He circled and came back to hover right in front of the dead Pawnee. There were two down towards the end of his pass that had escaped with their lives somehow. They raised up and one even got a shot off before Robert cut the two of them in half. Red Hawk sent Robert back up to his patrol altitude and he and the commandos went out to check on the Pawnee.

At some point during the attack little Susie woke up. Mae heard her calling out and went to her. The first thing she asked was if she was in heaven. Her mother had told her she was going to die and she couldn't believe she hadn't. Mae explained what her mother had said and asked the girl if she would like to come and live with us. The girl pointed to the blue flag on Mae's right arm, "I can be in the Band?" Mae nodded her head, "Can I go to school there? I listened to dad teach my brothers but he said there was no reason for a girl to be able to read and write. I can but not very good."

Mae smiled at her, "You can learn to read and write and lots more. You can be any thing you want. Now lay back. Jana and I are going to take you to the helicopter. Are you hurting?"

Susie put her hand on the bandage on her chest, "Just a little bit."

"Well I'll give you a shot when we get in the helicopter." Mae went to the back of the wagon where Susie was lying, "Jana if you'll help me we can take her to the chopper." They let the end of the wagon down and slid the stretcher out. Jana held her end while Mae got out of the wagon. I helped Mae out and took the other end of the stretcher and we started for the helicopter.

Red Hawk and the Wagon Train Captain joined us when we were about half way there. The Captain thanked us again for our help as we slid Susie's stretcher in and locked it down. Red Hawk told the Captain to watch for the commandos replacements toward the end of the week. We got into the helicopter and while the pilot was getting ready to take off Mae gave Susie a shot for her pain. We lifted off and headed back to Ft. Leavenworth.

I was anxious to get back. Beth had been on my mind all day. The pilot called me up to the jump seat in the cockpit. Just as I sat down and buckled up he banked the helo sharply to the left. As Ft. Leavenworth came into view I could see them, pink flags and ribbons flying everywhere. One at a time the pilot and co-pilot offered me their hands in congratulations.

It felt like I was going to bust wide open. I couldn't wait to get on the ground and I guess the pilot knew that. He put the bird into a gut wrenching dive only to pull out and flare the same way. It had nearly everyone in the back a little green around the gills, but I was glad to be on the ground.

Jana was closer so she got the door open and I was out of it like a quarter horse out of a starting gate. I headed to the hospital at a dead run leaving my other two wives to deal with our kit and our patient. I would take some ribbing over that later, but at the time I couldn't have cared less.

I flew into the house only to be brought up short by Fran and Prissy. They guided me to our spare bedroom and there I found Beth resting comfortably. "How are you sweetie?"

"Tired, a little sore, but very happy," Beth pulled back the covers and there she was, the most beautiful little girl in the whole wide world. She was nursing and not very interested in her ole Dad, but it didn't matter to me.

I started to touch her then thought better. I went and washed up my hands and arms real good then went back. Her hair was as fine as corn silk. Beth smiled at me, "She has your eyes you know."

I couldn't talk. I was so filled with pride and happy that Beth was all right that all I could do was just stare at them. I would have spent the night that way but Fran and Sam shooed me out.

Prissy had a meal on the table and they urged me to sit down and eat. That's when I realised that I hadn't had anything all day. By the time I ate I felt the long day catching up with me. Before I finished I was asleep on my feet. Somehow the girls got me up and into a bed. It had been an emotional roller coaster all day and it felt good to sleep.

The next morning Jana woke me as Jana likes to wake me. That is nursing me to a hardon and then riding me to the finish line. Not the worst way to get woke up. I was then called on to give all my sweeties a little loving, all but Beth and Mae, who had spent the night with Beth.

After breakfast I spent the morning in clinic. With the number of people we had here there was always someone sick or hurt. I stopped at noon and had a little lunch and checked on Beth. That's where I was when Fanny found me and told me that Red Hawk wanted to speak with me.

Red Hawk informed me that all of the players would be in place in two days. Two Horses thought it would be best if we hurried the relief of Red Hand's number one and two squads from the wagon train. The three squads that Red Hawk had sent on horseback should meet the train tomorrow some time. So Red Hawk ordered a helicopter to pick up the two squads that had been left with the train. They wouldn't have much rest but Red Hand thought they would still be the best ones for the job.

We were another hour working out the details of the operation. After that I left them to go check on Beth. She was asleep when I got there, but awoke when I kissed her. "Hello my love."

Beth smiled, "I've missed you this morning. The girls said you have had a full day. I forgot to ask you, did you still want to name our daughter Rebecca?"

"Yes, if that's all right with you." I reached up to touch Beth's face. She had such an amazing glow to her. Our time together was cut short by a knock at the door.

Mae let Fanny into the living room and came for me. When I entered the living room she saluted. I returned her salute, "What can I help you with Fanny?"

"Red Hawk needs you in communications, Sir," she smiled at the expression on my face, "Will you be along shortly?"

"Yeah, wait up let me get my hat and I'll go with you."

"You may want a jacket Sir, it a bit chilly tonight," Fanny added.

I grabbed my hat and the new jacket Prissy and Sam had made for me. We stepped out of the house and I quickly put my hat and jacket on, "What's the forecast? It feels like it could snow."

We started the brisk walk to the communications trailer, "We have an eighty percent chance for tonight and tomorrow," Fanny replied.

The rest of the walk was in silence as I thought about the plan we had worked out to change the minds of the 'Manifest Destiny' men. A big part of those plans had been our best pilots learning to fly the new 'plane' if you could call it a plane that Narith and his people had built. It was smaller than a C-5 Galaxy and considerably larger than a C-130 Hercules. Capable of carrying a full company, horses, troopers, and supplies it could land vertically or horizontally. The monstrous aircraft used not only the alien power supply, but some sort of gravity cancelling device. Both the power supply and the antigravity device were available for our use but not our understanding. Narith told us as we developed as a society they would share more and more of their knowledge. When I thought about it was pretty amazing. In many ways the technology we were using was far ahead of anything even dreamed about in the twenty first century. Some of our people had even left our solar system with one of the alien's scout ships. Fanny pulled me out of my thoughts when she knocked on the door of the Comm. trailer.

Fanny opened the door and held it as I stepped in. She followed a look from Red Hawk to her that dismissed her. Fanny crawled into an empty space under one of the communications racks. There she had a pillow and a blanket and a few minutes later she was sound asleep.

Red Hawk smiled at the sleeping girl, "She refuses to leave my side. She says 'if I'm to be your assistant then I need to be where you can find me day or night, ' she has the heart of a warrior that one." He reached down and pulled the blanket up some more to keep her from getting cold, "Sleep well my little warrior."

Seeing the love that Red Hawk had extended to the tiny orphan was very touching, but then he hadn't been alone in that regard. Many of the pied piper's charges had found new and loving families. So much for the image of the savage Redman. I moved to sit at the table with the other members of our war council.

Red Hawk waited for me to greet the others around the cramped table before he spoke, "All of the players are in place. President Polk has called for a meeting tomorrow at ten their time. He has asked us to give one hour to make his case." Red Hawk turned and faced me directly, "I'm sorry Tom, but I do not trust President Polk not to try something. I would if I were in his place."

"I agree. So what do you propose?" I asked.

Red Hawk laid the map of Washington D.C. out on the table, "To begin with we will not be giving him his hour to plead his case. In the last three days over five hundred mounted men have assembled in these two areas." Red Hawk pointed to the Mall and an open area on the banks of the Potomac. "I am sure that the President believes we can only airlift in a maximum of one hundred fifty troopers. I can't wait until he sees the new birds that Narith has just given us."

"Will we be taking all ten of the giant birds?" Broken Knife asked.

"Yes, and all of Alpha and Delta flights," Red Hawk patted Red Hand on his shoulder, "I will need all of your Commandos. Half will have to double up in one of the big birds. The other half will go in Alpha flight. The half in Alpha flight will deploy here, here, here, here, and here. They will all carry stunners as well as their regular weapons. You can decide how get to your deployment positions, but I'd rather none of them used the," Red Hawk turned to me, "What do you call the things they use to drop out of the air?"

I smiled, "Parachutes."

"Yes, yes, no parachutes, I do not want any of our people hurt." Red Hawk looked around the table making sure he had everyone's full attention, "Hear me? None! I don't care if we do not leave one man, woman, child or even a dog alive when we leave, none of our people are to get hurt. Am I understood?"

I looked at him with more than a little shock on my face, "Even the children?"

He sighed, "No, you know we don't kill children, women either for that matter. I was trying to make a point. Now for the companies that will be going." For the next thirty minutes Red Hawk identified which companies would be going in the big birds and their assignments. At the end he asked, "Any questions?" Before I could ask he turned to me, "Tom, I want you to bring all but one of your medical staff. Leave someone here that can handle any emergencies that might come up. Your wife Mae comes to mind. That is if Beth will agree that Mia and Jana will be adequate to supervise you." The trailer erupted in laughter, and I had to laugh with them. Red Hawk looked at the clock on the wall of the trailer. "It's nineteen thirty hours. I want us in the air at twenty one hundred.

I had to laugh myself listening to Red Hawk's use of a system of time keeping. Red Hawk, Broken Knife, Red Hand, and Two Horses are brilliant military strategists. They were all very quick to see tremendous value that time keeping represented. I had explained the difference between the twelve and twenty four hour systems. So just like the metric system the band had adopted, the twenty four hour time system became standard. As Red Hawk had said, "it just makes sense." When Red Hawk asked Narith for ten thousand digital watches I had to laugh as I wondered what Douglas Adams would have said.



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Chapter 19


We didn't get in the air at twenty one hundred on the chili as they say in the Texas of my former time. In fact it was almost thirty five minutes after before the lead craft lifted off. Still, with a favourable tail wind and pushing our normal cruising speed, we had our lead elements on the ground a little after 0200 hours. By 0300 Red Hand's commandos had stunned the extra guards at the White House and the sentries for the troops bivouacked in the Mall.

It was a nervous forty five minutes waiting for the commandos and troopers securing the two hundred and fifty troops bivouacked on the banks of the Potomac. When word finally did come over Red Hawk's communication headset he sighed with relief. As those troopers and commandos began to march the captured US troops toward the White House, Red Hawk ordered Robert Mill's artillery company to open fire with star shells and the alien supplied boomers.

Boomers were basically just a very large explosive charge that could be set to go off at any level. They could go from the sound of distant thunder to window shattering and horse scattering explosions. It was right at the window shattering level that the first ten boomers went off.

Boy howdy did they ever have the desired effect. All over the city people ran into the streets to see what was happening. Our troopers slowly but surely moved the entire population of Washington DC, more than forty thousand people including slaves, toward the Mall.

Red Hawk was sitting in a chair across the room from a sleeping President Polk when the windows of the White House shattered. He sat bolt upright in bed, but it was a toss up which surprised him the most, the boomers or Red Hawk in his bedroom.

By 0600 the Mall looked like the pictures in my history book of the protests over the Viet Nam war. People in every stage of dress, most in their night clothes, had been herded through the streets of DC.

All this was not without incident. Six of our troopers were shot, but thanks to Narith's light weight body armor none were hurt seriously. The same could not be said of their attackers. The double tap training that our troopers had spent hours at showed. All six of their attackers died with at least one of the two shots directly in the heart.

What was the most called for medical assistance? Smelling salts, the genteel ladies it seems couldn't handle being touched by 'dirty Indians and Niggers'. One genteel bitch was told if she used the 'N' word one more time that she'd be shot. Apparently she doubted this and attempted to slap one of our troopers who was at the time letting two little girls ride his horse. She became the first wounded person we could treat after twelve year old trooper Tabby Trammel put a 9mm slug straight through her hand, and promised her the next one through her head.

That wasn't the only mutiny we had that morning but it was the only one that led to blood shed. The funny part of that incident, depending on what side you were on, was when the lady with the hole in her hand asked Jana as she was wrapping her hand, "Would that little girl really shoot me in the head?"

Jana smiled at the woman in her mean sort of way, "I'd have shot you in the head the second, if not the first, time you called one of our troopers that, after you'd been told." The woman gasped, "But then maybe I'm a little more sensitive to it since me and two of my husbands other wives are former slaves."

"How many wives does your husband have?" the shocked woman asked.

Jana giggled, "There are seven of us and boy do we have fun. and I even renewed our membership in the mile high club on the way here."

The poor woman was afraid to ask but her curiosity compelled her to ask, "Mile high club?"

Jana, never bashful, grinned, "Yes ma'am. Our husband, that's him right over there with those two little girls. He made love to us on the flight up here."

The woman's face turned red as a beet. I heard the whole conversation and I was just proud Jana had said 'made love' rather than her normal 'fuck'. The woman was rattled enough.

Shortly after all this played out Red Hawk and the President stepped up on a make shift stage and with one of Narith's best sound system and speakers set up throughout the crowd Red Hawk began, "My name is Red Hawk. I am the leader of a united group of people we call 'The Band.' We were to come here in peace today to meet with leading members of your government and society, but your President decided that he wanted to ambush us and hold us for ransom." Polk stared at his feet like a child caught stealing candy, "His actions were an act of war. Is that what you want?"

The crowd didn't seem too interested in going to war. I suspected they might have been more for it if they weren't going to be starting it off as prisoners. Red Hawk held up his hands and they quieted down, "A large group of men were supposed to meet with the President today, I need you men to come forward. While those men are coming forward let me tell you what going to war will mean to you."

Red Hawk turned and whistled for the ever present Fanny and pointed to a nearby patch of high ground. The crowd followed Red Hawk's finger and watched in awe as the tiny red haired freckled face girl did her famous mount and ride wide open towards the stage. She slowed some as she approached the stage and stood in her saddle, her pony now at a slow lope. As she came parallel to the stage she jumped from the saddle and tucked into a roll. She stopped on one knee, her M-4 with collapsible stock and shortened barrel was up and ready. Fanny emptied the twenty round clip in seconds into a wooden bucket full of water we had set at the end of the stage. As soon as the bolt locked out on the empty clip she stood, checked her weapon to be sure it was safe and then handed it to Red Hawk.

He held the weapon up, "This is one of our automatic weapons." Reaching into his pocket he pulled out one of the 5.56mm rounds, "This is what it shoots. For those of you in the back, look to the nearest trooper." There were several laughs from the crowd, "Before some of you start to think that this is just a toy we let little girls play with let me explain something to you in numbers you can understand. This small bullet travels at three thousand one hundred feet per second. It is capable of delivering 1,309 ft·lb of force. And as you saw, it does not take long to fire twenty rounds. We have thousands of highly trained troopers all armed with automatic weapons, some are even more deadly than this one."

Red Hawk nodded his head and a squad of troopers herded a group of men up on the stage behind him, "These men have been putting pressure on your President to go to war with us. Ladies these men want us to kill your sons and husbands. Is that what you want? Once we kill enough of your men that you must sue for peace we will simply absorb you into the Band. In the Band women have the same rights as men." Red Hawk turned to me and smiled when it sounded like the entire crowd gasped at the same time. He turned back to the crowd, "And that's not the only difference that we have. In the Band all men and all women are equal. There is no slavery of any kind."

The crowd really reacted to Red Hawk's last statement. He waited for the crowd to quiet some before he finished his speech, but before he could begin one of the men from the group that had gathered to see the President started waving his arms above his head. Red Hawk nodded to him in acknowledgement, "What gives you the right to do this?"

Red Hawk smiled broadly, "There is a gentleman here and he asked me what gives me the right to do this? That's a very good question. To answer that question I need to ask you white people, what or who gave you the right to take away our land, or to enslave some man or woman? I know in the past it seemed to me that the reason was that you had better weapons."

Red Hawk paused to let his comment have full effect, "Now we have better weapons than you do and our guns are only one of our weapons." He paused and after a few minutes people in the crowd started talking. Suddenly the vid screen on the stage and others all around the crowd showed two men talking. The two men suddenly heard their conversation being broad cast over the same sound system that Red Hawk had just been using to address the crowd. As they stopped talking they realised that the crowd was again silent.

The vid screen switched to the backs of two men, "Those pictures and sounds are being relayed to the screen here from the air craft that are circling us as we speak. You can't even see them and yet they can see you and even hear every word you speak. By the time you could gather enough troops to attack we would already know how many of you there are and where you will be attacking from. We will be ready and waiting for you. And while you are on your long ride to fight us our aircraft will be raining death down on your troops. If there are any left by the time they get to us I doubt very seriously that they will be able to or even have the will to fight."

Red Hawk paused for a few seconds as the crowd murmured nervously among themselves. "We want peace, but if your rich and influential men insist on war we will not disappoint them. But you need to remember that it will be your family members fighting and dying. I doubt that any of their families will be involved." The murmurs grew considerably louder as the crowd became more and more angry.

Red Hawk pointed to the group of men who had been pushing the 'Manifest Destiny', "These are the men where your anger should be pointed. After we leave they will continue to use their influence. It is up to you to stop them."

Red Hawk turned to the men in question, "Just you remember if you try to stay on this path we will get involved. And if we do I assure each and every one of you will not like our version of 'Manifest Destiny'." He waited a few seconds for effect then added, "Do you understand me? If you want your own country then leave us alone."

Red Hawk turned and faced the crowd, "Since we had to come here in force, we will be leaving with all of the slaves and, if I know one of my troopers, all of the orphans. I will also extend the offer to any of the women here. If you want to live where you are not a second class citizen then go to the nearest trooper and let him know."

This announcement was followed by a mixture of cheers and angry shouts. One rather portly young man charged out of the crowd brandishing a small pistol. Before he could bring it up to fire Fanny swung around from where she had been following Red Hawk off the stage and fired twice. The two bullets hitting less than an inch apart and both in his heart. He was dead before he hit the ground. Many in the crowd had their remaining doubts about the lethality of the small black guns erased.

I wasn't sure what kind of response Red Hawk was expecting from his invitation, but I know I was surprised as all get out. It's not that there were that many slaves in DC at that time. We had guessed and got pretty close on the numbers of slaves. The surprise came in the numbers of single and married women, many with children, that mobbed our troopers asking for membership in the Band.

Consequently it was the married women that caused us the most trouble. The vast majority being women who were, by the definition from my time which was also the Band's definition, being abused. The abusing spouses rapidly relented their claims to wives and children after Red Hawk informed them that it would not trouble him one bit to execute each and every one of them.

This unexpected influx of women and children left us with a very large headache. We were desperately short of transport room. Narith saved the day when he 'popped' in. He had us load all of the DC natives that wanted to leave on our existing aircraft. Then he had five more of the large aircraft 'magically' appear. By noon the last trooper boarded the last transport and we returned their capital back to them.



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Chapter 20


I'd like to say that things were quiet for a while after that now famous trip to DC but Beth's giving birth was just the first of my pregnant wives. Over the next two months Fran, Prissy and finally Sam gave birth. Rebecca was followed five days later by Fran's little Ann. Just when I thought I would have nothing but girls Prissy gave birth to twin boys. Against my better judgment I gave in to Prissy who wanted their names to be Thomas and Jefferson after me. I turned out to be right when less than two weeks had gone by and they were being called Jr. and Jeff.

That left Sam, and two weeks after Prissy, and a bit early, she gave birth to Samantha. Before little Sam was a week old our next door neighbour Red Hawk had nicknamed her Little Bird with Big Voice. A name she earned and maintained any time she was displeased. Usually she was the first to squawk but never the last. Before she had finished she was leading a chorus of crying. I learned very quickly that more than one mother-in-law was not the only punishment for bigamy. I had only one mother-in-law, but five crying babies more than made up for it.

We continued to have problems with some of the Pawnee. I say some because many of the women who had been widowed after their husbands tangled with our troopers had, with their children, joined us. They had even been joined by a few of the braves who disagreed with the warring councils of the Pawnee.

But life wasn't all roses. It was an early morning in late April when the alarm sounded. We'd had severe weather several times that spring, enough so that we had started building a few storm shelters; far too few as it turned out. We had just made it into the hospital shelter with the kids and the three wounded from the hospital when it hit. We were all safe save for Mia. She was spending the night with her mother who was suffering from a bad case of the flu.

Narith's people had been very good to us. At the same time they insisted we learn on our own. Doppler radar was not something we had got around to. It was only at the last moment that the warning went out for something that had not been seen much at this time. That was a mile wide tornado. Back in my old time it would have been called an F5, but for now all it could be called was disaster.

Our house was badly damaged but thankfully the hospital was untouched. I wanted to go check on Mia but the flood of wounded prevented that from happening. Mae's aversion to being the doctor in charge was buried in the flood of wounded and dying that came into the hospital. Sam, Fran, and Beth were attempting to do triage — I say attempting because in practice all they were doing was first aid until the next badly wounded person came in, and boy howdy did they come in.

The size of the town around the fort had exploded as it had found itself the de facto capital of the Band. Unfortunately that explosion of building had been in the traditional wooden construction of the 1850's. In an F5 tornado wooden buildings are nothing more than raw material for making wooden missiles. Missiles from tooth pick size all the way up to the house itself.

Quite frankly I didn't have the time or inclination to think about it. I had more than plenty to do. There seemed to be a never ending stream of injured. Red Hand, Elizabeth, and Mom brought in their neighbours and stayed to help. It was sorely needed. The clock slowly marched steadily towards dawn and still the injured and maimed flowed through our tiny hospital. Around 0500 it seemed that we were getting caught up, but with the first light of dawn a new wave of wounded.

A bruised and bloody Red Hawk came in carrying Fanny. I thought she was tied to a board when I first looked at her, but then Red Hawk moved the tail of her buckskin shirt. Then I saw the piece of a board that had pierced her abdomen. Fanny was nailed to the board that Red Hawk was holding. About that same time I realised that Red Hawk was in shock. Beth and Jana wrestled the board and Fanny away from Red Hawk and got her into a stasis field. Prissy and Sam took the shell shocked leader and started examining him. It was late the next day before we knew for sure that Fanny would survive.

It was 1600 before we had a chance to go out and see all the damage done by the tornado, and boy was it bad. Two hundred and twenty three of our friends lost their lives. Those deaths were tragic but there were two additional deaths that hit closer to home. Mia and her mother were found the day after the storm hit. The small house that Mia's mother had lived in had been completely destroyed, leaving no trace that it had ever existed. Mia and her mother were found over two miles away by one of our patrols. So like so many of our friends we buried our dead and mourned

Most of the town was a splintered mess, so for the rest of the spring we rebuilt, but it did give me an idea. I had always believed that it was foolish at best to build above ground houses in this part of the country. It didn't take anywhere near as much convincing as I thought it would. It seems that the long time residents had seen more than enough twisters in the past three years. They knew that the underground houses would be far and away safer than any above ground structure. I think they were just hoping for some of our, well actually Narith's, technology to make it easier. I had to smile; from now on we would live like Hobbits.

Many of the new immigrants to Freeland found the idea of living underground a bit strange. But seeing how the borders of Freeland and the area of North America known as the "Tornado Alley" were basically the same, it wasn't that hard of a sell and after one good thunderstorm they were usually plumb tickled.

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We wondered if word had got out about our little disaster. That question was answered on the fifth of May. One of our helicopter scouts reported that a very large group of men estimated to be between five and six thousand were gathering on the other side of our border and it appeared they were intent on attacking.

The first thing we did was to assign everyone that could write to write a letter asking if the men had written a last letter to their families and for them to let their widows and orphans that they were welcome to come and live with us. These letters were dropped from five low flying helicopters. Red Hawk sent an emissary with an official letter to President Polk.

Since he had no knowledge that we were about to be attacked he was outraged and asked our Emissary to take him to see the men in question. The Emissary along with President Polk and three of his top military advisors lifted off for the long ride back to Freeland.

They had been in the air four hours when the men in question began to cross the river into Freeland. We had no desire for a blood bath so Red Hawk ordered the alien supplied stunners to maximum. Our troopers were spread out all along the ridge above the river. We had hoped that if we made a show of force it would make them back down. The letters had caused some desertions but the enemy still numbered over five thousand. They spread out and prepared to charge. As soon as they started forward Red Hawk ordered our troops to fire the stunners.

With them at maximum and at the distance we were from them it got men, horses, and all. While they were unconscious we went down and took everything they had. The horses being bigger were the first to come to so we led them back over the hill. When the men came to they found themselves, surrounded, unarmed, afoot and buck naked. By the time we had stripped most of the men President Polk landed and he and Red Hawk walked over to the shade of a cottonwood tree and talked for over an hour. When they finished they called for horses and rode over to group of naked men.

"I am Red Hawk leader of the people of Freeland. This is President Polk leader of the United States. Who are you people and why were you attacking us?"

There were a bunch of angry shouts before the three men that we already knew to be the leaders came forward. Not bothering to introduce himself one of the three shouted back, "We came to get the slaves that came here."

Red Hawk shook his head, "We do not have any slaves in Freeland."

"That's bullshit I can see at least a dozen niggers behind you!" the man shouted as he pointed at the line of troopers.

Red Hawk turned in the saddle and motioned for the troopers in question to come forward. While they were coming forward President Polk cleared his throat to draw attention, "You men have broken federal law The United States government does not recognise private armies. These Freeland Troopers along with their companies will be escorting you men to the Marshal in Independence."

"What about our clothes?" the leader shouted angrily.

"They will be sent ahead to Independence and if you behave yourselves you will get them back." There was a whole bunch more crying and belly aching and it didn't take long for the President to get all he wanted, "Before you get to thinking that you are being wronged here let me remind you that you men decided to come here and attack these people. And there is something else that Red Hawk can do if he wants and he has every right to do it, and that's to kill every last one of you." It must have hit a nerve because it got quiet as a church. The President nodded his head feeling like he had the men's attention, "There is one more thing you men might want to consider. You have attacked a sovereign nation. You! Are US citizens and you! You have committed an act of war. If the people of Freeland decide to go to war with the United States then it will all be on your heads."

The President turned to Red Hawk, "Red Hawk why don't you explain what would happen if Freeland was to declare war on the US."

For the next half hour Red Hawk explained what would happen to their way of life. After that the vast majority of the men saw the error in what they'd done. But the leader was a horse of different colour all together. He yelled up at Red Hawk, "I don't see how you think that you can defeat the armies of the United States!"

Red Hawk smiled, "Look around you dumbass. What kind of war are you going to fight naked and unarmed? And lest you think that all of our weapons are non-lethal we have prepared a demonstration for you." Red Hawk pointed to the north of where the men were standing. Some of the troopers were rolling a wood target with a bull's-eye painted on it, "All of you get where you can see the target," Red Hawk waited while the men spread out. When they stopped moving, "The next time an armed group crosses our border with the idea of attacking us we will not be stunning them and stripping them naked. This is what will happen."

Red Hawk whispered into his throat mike and a single helicopter popped up out of nowhere. The pilot didn't swoop down and strafe the target they simply pulled into a hover and then pulled the trigger on the twin mounted mini-guns. It sounded like a swarm of angry bees, but the effect on the target caused many of the men get sick. When the two guns ran through their ammunition the pilot moved over near where Red Hawk and the President where standing and sat the bird down.

The men's next surprise was when the diminutive pilot took the helmet off and shook her long blonde hair out. The pilot wasn't a women but a girl. Tabitha Trammel had just turned thirteen and was already one of our best pilots. Red Hawk called her over, "Tabitha, that looked pretty easy blowing that target to bits how much trouble would you have pointing your guns at say a bunch of armed men?"

Without even a smile, "If they came here to attack my Band I would kill them in a heartbeat Sir!" There was a collective gasp from the group of naked men. For men of that time the thought of a woman much less a slip of a girl having the power of life or death over them was more than a little upsetting.

Red Hawk gave a short whistle and the group of men were started on their humiliating return to the United States. The former slaves formed up on each flank so every man jack of them could see them as they herded the men on their way. This embarrassment was further added to when they got to the river and saw a company of US soldiers waiting for them on the other side. Red Hawk had sent a wagon loaded with all of their clothes. The troopers driving the wagon turned it over to the commanding officer of the US troops with Red Hawk's compliments. The captain smiled and thanked the young female trooper, telling her that the wagon would be returned when they had finished with it.

If any of the men thought that they had been humiliated enough they were surprised to find that the US troops herded them down the main street in Independence. Many of the men had bragged only days before as to what they were going to do. Now the evidence of their success was marked by the fact that they had lost everything they had, including their dignity.

One would have thought that their example would have sufficed to deter others from the same actions, but sadly that was not the case. There would however be no more parades of naked men. Red Hawk ordered that all other incursions be met with one set of warning shots followed closely by deadly force. After the second time US troops led a string of horses with their former riders tied head and feet to stirrup over their saddles there were no more attempts to attack us.

Thus settled in an uneasy peace, at least for a little while, by the end of the 1850's the winds of war were once again blowing our way. I had expected that slavery would still be the catalyst for an Uncivil War. But I'm getting ahead of my self.

In March of 1849 James K. Polk left office. He had briefly considered a goodwill tour through the south in a last ditch effort to smooth over the increasingly bad feelings. Red Hawk convinced him that things had progressed too far for that to be any help. He turned over power to Zachary Taylor. Old Rough and Ready was not one of our biggest fans. And if he hadn't had his hands full with the slavery issue he would have no doubt made us an issue.

The problem was that Freeland prevented the Compromise of 1850 from coming into being. That froze the balance of slave to free states at a level that neither side liked. The winds of war started blowing ten years earlier. Emissaries of the United States government came to us in March of 1850 wanting our help. It took our council only fifteen minutes to come up with the terms of our involvement. They had only deliberated thirty minutes before word from one of our forward scouts reported that a southern army was moving on Washington DC at that time.

They all looked at each other then turned to Red Hawk and accepted our terms. We had been watching the southern army form and move for weeks. Red Hawk issued the orders for the attack that we had decided on. Our pilots had been ordered not to fire first. They didn't have to wait long for the southern army to try its luck at shooting down one of the helos. Two bursts from the bird's mini guns and the entire army over three divisions in strength broke and retreated.

As they fled our birds followed harassing the force night and day until the third day when a white flag was shown. Robert E. Lee was very surprised to find himself facing Red Hawk and the President of the United States. An hour later another of our helos landed nearby and we were joined by a rather pissed off Jefferson Davis.

The negotiations that took place that afternoon were not a part of the history that I had grown up with. It was the end of slavery in the United States, but Red Hawk and I pushed for what amounted to labour and land reform. We pointed out where the south needed workers to keep the flow of food and fibre moving. Also we pointed out how the glut of workers in the North was causing conditions worse than what some of the slaves had endured.

Thus began the great American migration, Ex-slaves and Native Americans moving to Freeland and American and European immigrants moving south to help man the plantations. Many of the Irish immigrants chose to follow the freed slaves, but interestingly enough the vast majority were women. They, along with many other women, came to Freeland where they could, and would, be treated equally.

This did little to endear us with the males of the United States. I think that they didn't believe the equality statement we had forced on both the North and South would really make any difference in their daily lives. Personally I suspect their women folk had some different ideas. That was yet to be seen.

Another big change from history as I knew it was the restrictions on buffalo hunters. In my history the buffalo had been hunted almost to extinction. We, the council that is, would allow only limited hunting by non-Band persons. The primary limitation being that hunters had to eat what they killed. The plains would no longer be littered with the rotting corpses of buffalo.



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Chapter 21

With Narith's people's help we built hundreds of windmills. Some lifted water from the Ogallala aquifer, but for the most part they were for generating electricity. It was my sincere hope that we could avoid the ecological disasters of my previous life.

I also did everything I could to straighten out some of the mistakes of my past. One of those was sixty cycle electricity. When I was in the eighth grade one of my classmates had been killed when he lifted a joint of irrigation pipe into a power line. Our science teacher, one of the football coaches, gave us the history of electricity in the United States. Before this I had had little or no respect for this "teacher", but seeing him with tears in his eyes as he explained why the U.S. has sixty cycle while the rest of the world uses fifty put him in a entirely new light. The 'great' Thomas Edison was responsible for sixty cycle and the electric chair. It seems that sixty cycle is more efficient for killing humans. Safety for those exposed to it wasn't as big on his list as making money and spitting in the face of his rival Nicola Tesla.

There was still a lot of grumbling about 'Manifest Destiny'. It took a while to come up with a solution. That solution was the brainchild of little Fanny. She had recovered from the injuries she had received during the tornado and was once again being our Fanny. Her suggestion was that we announce that we had adopted the idea of 'Manifest Destiny' and would be annexing all of the land north south east and west of our beloved plains. Once our plans and the reason for them were conveyed to the Queen of England and the Mexican government things got most unpleasant for the young United States.

Mexico and England accused the US of kicking the dog, so to speak, and told them in no uncertain terms that they were quite sure they could reach an agreement with the Band on the division of the US claims on both coasts. It was our version of Teddy Roosevelt's big stick policy. No matter - it worked. There were even a few of the die hard 'Manifest Destiny' proponents that nearly found themselves lynched.

We did actually consider annexing the western states, or what was in my earlier life the western states. In Late July we met with representatives of Mexico, England, the Commonwealth of Canada, the Navajo and Apache nations, and five chiefs that represented a large majority of the tribes of the Northwest. The Canadian and United Kingdom representatives had been dealing with some of the less than stellar members of the human race, and formerly U.S. citizens in Vancouver. Their law enforcement people were more or less under siege. They were interested in the Band getting troopers in the Oregon territory if for no other reason than to help keep the peace. There was also a large area claimed by the northern most plains peoples that they could not see being of much value. Their biggest interest was in timber. The seas of grassland that made up the southern plains of Canada were of no use to them. They were glad to cede it to us in exchange for peace and our troopers taking over law and order in the Northwest. Thus the states of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and a large part of northern California joined Freeland.

We had already established a series of towns along the Oregon Trail, but stopped at the Rockies. Now Band settlements were extended into Washington and Oregon. We were also forced to send in two companies of troopers to clean out the criminals, riff-raff, and various ne'er do wells. Many of these were turned over to the Canadian officials. Some were tried and expelled, or executed. This went a long way towards endearing us to the good and decent people of the area.

What did the folks in the United States think of all this? The short answer is not too much. Journalist from the U.S. Wrote several articles detailing life in Freeland. Between technology, standard of living, infant mortality, and the low crime rate, Freeland had become a major drain on the young U.S. Disenfranchised women, married and single, and a good portion of the educated males showed up at our border crossings.

The ruling council spent many, many hours with Narith and his people discussing how we should establish our country. We weren't the only ones that they helped. A large uranium deposit in what was New Mexico was of interest to Narith's people. They worked with the Navajo Nation by drilling water wells and setting up windmills to pump them. They also gave them vaccines and taught their medicine men how to treat the many illnesses that plagued all indigenous peoples. Like the people of the Band the Navajo were offered solar panels and windmills to produce electricity.

The U.S. was also offered solar and wind power. They didn't like the idea of individuals having 'free' power. They suggested that Narith's people hand over the panels and wind turbines to a select few and then those same few would sell the equipment to the 'common man'. It came as no surprise to me that the ones getting the equipment and making a one hundred percent profit were the same elitists that made up the 'manifest destiny' and 'robber barons' from my history.

Things had been mostly quiet for over a year. I think it's called the law of unintended consequences. The first we knew of it was when a company of Texas Rangers flagged down one of our LRP's, that's a long range patrol for those not in the Band. The patrol was on the far eastern edge of West Texas near the outpost on the Leon River between where Abilene and Eastland were in my time.

The Rangers had a letter from the Texas government to our leaders. The patrol commander radioed back for instructions. Due to the time of day Red Hawk ordered the LRP commander to make camp and the Council would fly in early the next morning. The Rangers had been riding hard for days living on warm water, jerky, and hard tack. The Ranger Captain gladly accepted the offer to dine with the members of the Band.

The fried steak and taters, with biscuits and water gravy was a welcome change, but the real winner was the peach cobbler that was served for dessert. After supper the troopers of the LRP got an ear full.

But to catch you folks up you need to learn a little bit of the history of this time. It seems in our efforts to corral the Manifest Destiny proponents we had empowered the government of Mexico. The Mexican-American War of my time was shortened when Polk, under pressure from the Manifest Destiny folks, withdrew Winfield Scott in May of 1847. This was due to our Santa Fe interference.

That meant that there was no clear winner of the Mexican-American War. To the great generalissimo Santa Anna that meant he won. He really didn't need very much encouragement to begin encroaching on the Freeland reduced state of Texas. Added to that he was less than happy about the new Navajo and Apache Nations that had been formed. Zachary Taylor still had his nose bent all out of shape over us and consequentially refused to establish normal diplomatic relations. He didn't have a problem screaming for us to save his butt when Robert E. Lee was knocking on his back door, but since that was no longer a problem he didn't need us. He didn't take Santa Anna as a serious threat, mainly because he had little use for Texans and the Mexican army was a long way from him. It seems 'beltway politics' existed long before the beltway.

We, the Council, had a pretty good idea why the Rangers had flagged down our patrol. To that end a flight of our attack helos left three hours before we did. Just as we were getting ready to sit down where the LRP and Rangers were, Bravo flight reported in. Over ten thousand Mexican troops were marching through South Texas heading for San Antonio. Red Hawk looked across the aisle at me and I simply nodded my head.

We had discussed this along with a number of other possible situations that we felt could impact Freeland. Red Hawk turned to Fanny, "Scramble Pegasus!"

Fanny had the communications officer send the message along with the details of Bravo flight's report. That set in motion a whole raft of things, not the least of which was that a message was sent to Washington D.C., routed through the British government since Old Rough and Ready wouldn't allow a bunch of "redskins" an embassy. Red Hawk also had Bravo flight return via Austin and inform the Texas officials as to the situation and obtain permission for our planned response. We had no intention of extending the same courtesy to the U.S. government. Diplomacy is one thing, being a good neighbour another.

Bravo flight landing in Austin created quite the stir, but nowhere near the stir that just turned fourteen year old Tabitha Trammel caused when she marched up the steps to the governor's mansion helmet under her left arm and her M4 slung over her shoulder. When she was first dismissed as a 'little girl' she said, "I guess you're not interested in the Mexican army headed this way." To say she had their attention after that would be a gross understatement. After that she was finally escorted to then governor, Peter H. Bell. She came to attention and saluted Band fashion, "Bravo Flight leader Tabitha Trammel. I have an emergency communication for you from our Council." She handed the governor the printed communication generated by her helos computer.

Governor Bell dropped into his chair and exhaled, handing the print out to John Greer, the Lt. Governor, who read it and uttered, "Dear God in heaven!"

Governor Bell stood again and faced Tabitha, "Will your troops be able to stop them?"

"Yes Sir, without a doubt," she replied proudly.

"What do you need us to do?" The governor asked.

Tabitha smiled. "Would you like to go to meet with our Council? They flew down to meet with a company of your Rangers that had flagged down one of our LRP's." She paused when she saw the question on Bell's face, "Sorry sir one of our Long Range Patrols. They were on the Leon River."

Governor Bell turned to Mr. Greer, "I guess I'll go. That leaves you in control I'll try to keep you posted. You had just as well alert the rest of the Rangers and have them assemble."

He looked questioningly to Tabitha, "Sir, I think here will be fine. Should they be needed elsewhere I have been instructed to tell you that we can move any of your people anywhere they might be needed."

The governor nodded. "I believe I am going to acquire a taste for crow before this is over. I'm afraid, young lady, I have been less than complimentary of your Band. I'll apologise to you now and to your council when I see them." An aid came forward holding the governor's hat and coat. After donning his coat and taking his hat in hand, "Lead the way young lady."

Fifteen minutes later Governor Bell was belted into the jump seat of Tabitha's helicopter and given a head set and an injection to ease any motion sickness he might suffer from. Five minutes after that Bravo flight lifted off and headed to the Leon River encampment.

The governor was amazed at the helicopters. Their speed and agility were beyond anything he had as a reference. His conversation with the fourteen year old pilot left him stunned by her spirit and maturity.

Tabitha had sent Red Hawk a notification on the helo's communication net that she had the Governor and was en route. He had responded and instructed her to give her passenger a demonstration of her craft's abilities. "Governor Bell," Tabitha started, "Red Hawk, our leader has asked me to show you what this craft is capable of."

Tabitha keyed her throat mike, "Bravo flight this is Bravo leader. Orbit left, use a short burst on the small lake below. I'll be rotating to the right so the Governor can watch." Tabitha keyed the intercom, "Governor Bell you might want to hold on."

Tabitha pushed the control forward and the helo nosed over. She dived on the small pond and pulled the trigger on the mini-gun in the nose. The surface of the water danced as hundreds of bullets impacted it. The helo pulled out of the dive and banked to the right. The Governor was turning a light shade of green as Tabitha turned the helo so the two of them could watch the rest of the flight. One after the other the helos of Bravo flight dived on the small pond.

The Governor exhaled loudly then took a deep breath trying to get control of his stomach, "I have been told about your amazing machines, but those words pale after seeing that demonstration. I take it Santa Anna's army will present only a small problem."

Tabitha laughed, "No problem at all! Sir, no problem at all!" She keyed her throat mike, "Bravo flight form on me." An hour later Bravo flight was circling the clearing where Red Hawk and the rest of the council were sitting under a huge oak. A trooper with a set of flags came out and signalled the members of Bravo flight to their parking spots on the ground.

Tabitha popped the canopy and climbed out. She was helping the Governor with his seat belts when he looked up and smiled, "And to think I thought you were just a little girl just a couple of hours ago." Once on the ground he offered his arm, "Shall we go meet your boss young lady?"

Tabitha smiled back at Governor Bell as she took his arm, "The council is right this way." They walked arm in arm over to the circle of chairs under the ancient oak. The Governor turned to look at Tabitha as she dropped his arm, came to attention, and saluted with her arm across her chest, "Bravo Flight Commander Tabitha Trammel reporting as ordered." Red Hawk stood and returned her salute. Tabitha smiled broadly, "Governor Bell, may I introduce Red Hawk, leader of the Band. Red Hawk, this is Governor Peter Bell. I'll leave him your hands and go check on my flight."

The Governor took Tabitha's hand in his and kissed the back of it, "Thank you Flight Commander Trammel for everything you have done for me today, and commend your flight on their display."

"It was my duty and my pleasure Sir." Tabitha saluted once again turned on her heel and left.

The Governor turned back to Red Hawk, "That is a very impressive young lady!"

"She's one of our best. Our youth seem to thrive on responsibility. Come meet the rest of the council and hear what we have done so far." Red Hawk led the Governor to the circle of chairs and folding tables and listened as members of the Band and his own Rangers worked out a battle plan.

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Ten days later South of San Antonio Texas

For over a week flights of the giant transport helicopters had been ferrying back and forth, bringing troopers in and emptying towns, villages, farms, and ranches of their inhabitants and all food and supplies. Livestock were being gathered and transported as far from the line of march as possible. Not so much as one crumb of bread was being left in the Mexican Armies' line of march.

At the same time, tracked hoes were digging trenches along a low ridge. Troopers, Rangers and volunteers from the surrounding area were preparing to stop Santa Anna's march into Texas. The Rangers and Volunteers openly stared at some of the strange weapons that the buckskin-clad members of the Band had. But no one could challenge the dedication and esprit de corps that they possessed.

Governor Bell had stayed in the field and at his request Red Hawk had ferried in every company of Texas Rangers under his command. The ruling council had returned to Ft. Leavenworth leaving the upcoming confrontation to Broken knife, myself, ten companies of troopers, and three flights of attack helos. The Rangers and the volunteers felt we were woefully undermanned. Especially since many of the buckskinned troopers were female.

Mean while Santa Anna's troops were hungry. They had been without food for the last ten days. Attempts by his cavalry to forage had already cost him one hundred men. It was noon on the eleventh day when they spotted the dug in emplacements on the ridge. The Mexicans sent an honour guard to demand the surrender of the Texas and, as it turned out, Freeland Troops. The Captain in charge was less than happy to find out that some of those in front of them were Freeland Troopers. Governor Bell asked that Santa Anna be surrendered and all weapons left behind; at that point the Mexican troops could expect to be fed and then escorted back to Mexico. The Captain looked at Governor Bell, "And if we attack?"

The Governor smiled cat like, "Then any survivors will be offered the same deal." The Governor turned in the saddle, "Now would be a good time to introduce the Captain to Flight Commander Trammel and her friends!" A whistle went out and suddenly three flights, thirty of our fast attack helicopters, appeared out of thin air. "Do you need a demonstration of their capabilities? I saw your frown when you realised that Freeland had sent troops. So that you know they sent nine companies of troopers and one of their artillery. Oh, and three flights of their flying machines. Flight Commander Trammel assures me that if they unload their guns that there won't be enough of you left to even be a bother." The Governor grinned, "So what will it be?"

To say that the Captain was flummoxed barely describes the situation. "I will convey your offer to the general." They turned and rode back to Santa Anna.

The Governor rode straight to Zoë Polk, "I understand young lady that you can hit someone as far away as they are now?"

Zoë snapped to attention and saluted, "Sir, yes, sir, easily sir!"

"Good if they decide to attack I want you to shoot that arrogant Santa Anna once and for all. Is that clear?" the Governor asked.

Behind the Governor, Zoë could see the Mexicans bringing up their cannons, "So them getting ready to shoot at us is all you need?"

The Governor turned in the saddle, "Yes, young lady you're clear to take your shot."

Zoë walked over to where her Barrett was laying on top of one blanket but under another. She laid down and there was a rush to give her a clear line of fire. Picking out the general was an easy enough task. He was the fanciest dressed man there sitting on a pure white horse. Zoë took her time and that gave the rest of us time to dismount. She looked around then put her eye back to the scope, "Ready?"

"Go ahead!" The Governor's words were punctuated by the very loud report of the Barrett. We were watching through field glasses as just over a mile away the general's head exploded and his lifeless body tumbled from his now blood spattered and spooked horse.

I turned to Maggie, "Have Tabitha's flight make a run parallel to their guns and scare them back. As soon as they're back have the following flights rake those guns. Have Robert drop five rounds of HE well behind them so they understand they are already under our guns." Tabitha's flight dropped right down on the deck. Tearing the ground to shreds right in front of their guns had the desired effect. The soldiers that were setting them up ran. The follow up flights destroyed the ammunition stores as tracer rounds set off the black powder. No sooner had the last helo cleared the line of mostly destroyed guns than five explosions went off in their rear.

That put them at sixes and sevens for over ten minutes. They didn't even know which way to run. A brief but animated discussion began near the body of their general. When it looked like it was going to run long I turned in the saddle, "Maggie have Robert start marching rounds towards the front of their lines, but don't let them forget about the big guns."

About half way to the Mexican army, mortar rounds started exploding in more or less a straight line. To this was added even bigger explosions behind their lines. The mortar rounds crept slowly towards the line of men. When the explosions were just over a hundred yards away white flags started sprouting all along their lines. Maggie signalled Robert to stop. You could hear their relief a mile away. We watched as the Captain rode toward us again.

Behind the Captain we were watching as a small group of officers argued amongst themselves. But we had the advantage of Commander Trammel's special ears. We listened as the group decided who would be the new President of Mexico and more amazingly how they were going to prosecute the war. We allowed the Captain to listen - his orders had been to delay us long enough for them to chose a leader while out of our line of sight they reset their remaining guns. Unfortunately for them out of the line of sight was not unseen. Tabitha fed pictures and coordinates of each of their new gun emplacements. The Captain wanted to return, but we refused to allow it citing their duplicity.

We waited until they had fired their first shot. Then unleashed Robert's big guns on them. The number one gun placed the first round right on top of the small band of elite officers, then one by one each gun was destroyed. White flags started popping out all along the lines after the third gun was hit, but we ignored them this time. While Robert's company was raining destruction on their guns the three flights of attack helicopters landed just outside the arc of Robert's guns. They were swarmed as their crews topped off their ammunition.

The Captain had just questioned the reason for this when Tabitha Trammel came running up to where we were mounted. She saluted and pulled her helmet off shaking out her strawberry blonde hair, "Flight Commander Trammel reporting as ordered."

"Tabitha, we are about to send the Captain back with instructions." I started, "We will give him exactly five minutes to have every one of his men lay down their guns. When that five minutes is up you and your flights are cleared to kill anyone still holding a weapon."

The poor Captain could barely believe his ears, "You would kill all of us?" The Captain questioned.

Governor Bell's face went red, "Yes, we'll kill every man jack just like you did at the Alamo! You came here to kill us surely you're not surprised that we would do different! Now once you get to your lines you have five minutes and then that young lady is going to kill anyone with a weapon in their hand. Do you understand?"

"I will convey your terms." The Captain turned his horse and galloped back to the Mexican lines. Tabitha returned to her flight and they got airborne and quickly surrounded the Mexican troops. Before the Captain could get back to his lines one officer had formed a battalion sized group and they were marching straight at us. When the Captain stopped to protest he was promptly shot.

I didn't know about anyone else, but I felt like we had given them every chance to give up, "Zoë take that asshole off of his horse!" The Barrett's report was the officer's death warrant, but the battalion kept coming towards us. I saw no other recourse, "Maggie have Bravo flight stop them." We watched as Tabitha's flight peeled off from the other two flights. One of the ten helo's broke off from the group and dived on the one thousand marching men. From where we were the buzz of the guns was somewhat muted. Their effect was easily evident as man after man lost his life. One pass and most of the thousand-man battalion lay dead or dying. I had Maggie order the three flights to take up stations just in front of the Mexican troops. That was all it took to break their will. There were still some officers who were trying to get the men to pick up their guns and fight, but one by one Zoë made each of them pay with their life, not that of their troops.

Between Zoë's officer pruning and the miniguns on the three flights of helos the Mexicans finally gave up. I was about to go see if the Captain that had been shot could be saved when Zoë cleared her throat and gave me look that would have curdled milk, changing my mind. She sent one of our newly trained medic teams instead. Have you you noticed that Zoë seems to always be acting on my wives behalf when one or three of them weren't around? That throat clearing and look had left me with a sinking feeling.



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Chapter 22

The Governor decided to keep the surviving members of the Mexican army busy by having them bury their dead. By hand.

They needed something to keep them busy. While they were doing that, Red Hawk and the council were on their way to the battlefield. Me? I was hip deep in the Mexican Captain's guts. The stasis field had him stable, but a .58 caliber ball fired at close range into one's belly tends to make for a lot of messy work.

There had been a few men who had survived Tabitha's strafing. One was a lieutenant that belonged to some rich and powerful family in Mexico. The surviving Mexican officers put no small amount of pressure on any, and every, one on our side to fix him up before the Captain who, according to them, was pretty much a nobody. Zoë seemed to have put herself in charge of settling this dispute and the first one to make angry moves towards me ended up with nine millimetre vent in his forehead. That pretty much ended further discussion on the subject.

A little after fifteen hundred hours the council's big helo landed along with four field kitchens. A group of troopers got out and quickly set up a large screened tent with tables and chairs and sent Mae for me. I kissed my lovely wife and left her to finish closing up the Captain. I cleaned up and trotted over to the big meeting with my shadow. Yeah, you guessed it: Zoë.

While I had been sewing up intestines the remaining officers had been plotting our demise. Tabitha had simply set her bird down and put the computer to listening and translating. This had Gov. Bell and several hundred Rangers ready to kill them to a man.

The governor and our council discussed the Mexico problem for over an hour before Red Hawk turned to me, "Tom you are too quiet! What are your thoughts on this?"

The governor didn't know about my future past as it were, and I really wanted to keep it that way, "Well," I started, "the problem in Mexico is that one percent of the population has ninety nine percent of the wealth, so you end up with a bunch like these officers, moneyed elite. That's just problem one as I see it. Problem two, the US government left the state of Texas on its own. I'm not sure what they would have done had we not stepped in. My guess is they would have just let Texas go back to Mexico; a victim of the US government's loss of Manifest Destiny."

I stood up and walked around a bit while I composed the rest of my thoughts, "First, I think that the state of Texas should secede; go back to being the Republic of Texas. Second, the Republic of Texas should annex Mexico. Once those two things have been done the next step is that the new Republic should seize the land and possessions of the ruling elite and see to it anyone who wants land gets it. You may have to kill most of the ruling class but you need to realise that as long as they are in power, any of them, you will have a lit powder keg sitting out side your front door." I turned and faced the Texas governor, "You understand that we can't support Texas if it's going to be pro slave, right?"

Now it was Governor Bell's turn to stop and ponder. He stood and walked in a small circle in front of his chair, "The Texas legislature is in session right now. I fear it will be a hard sell. The pro slave folks are not going to be happy. They will not like having anyone of colour a free person. There will also be a large group that will be upset with all of the Roman Catholic influence." Governor Bell turned and looked to me.

I shrugged, "We can always offer the same deal as we gave the pro slave folks in Santa Fe?" The governor looked stricken, but I had two other points to make, "And if you people are going to preach freedom of religion, then you need to practice freedom of religion. Another thing that is sure to come up is Spanish, the language. I think if you're smart you'll push people to be bilingual. If," I stepped a little closer, "if you make these changes and take advantage of the resources that will be available to you then the Republic of Texas will become one of the world's great nations!"

I didn't have to wonder long. It didn't take Governor Bell two shakes of a lamb's tail to make up his mind, "I'm in!" the governor stated, "Can y'all come to Austin and speak to the Legislature?"

I had to turn to see what Red Hawk wanted to do. Apparently he thought this was just as important as I thought it was. He was speaking quietly to Broken Knife. When he finished Broken Knife started whistling commands and our people started moving.

Governor Bell walked over to Red Hawk, "Sir, could I impose on you to have Commander Trammel return me to Austin?"

Red Hawk smiled broadly, "You may ride with the commander or with the council. I assume that you will want at least some of your Rangers to come with us as well? We will be bringing our honour guard. I'll leave one of our companies here under the command of your Rangers to watch over the prisoners. With your permission the remainder of our troopers will help the people who were evacuated get back in their homes. Fanny, go get Commander Trammel." Fanny performed her trademark mount and rode hard for the helo area.

Governor Bell smiled shaking his head and chuckling, "Granted. Red Hawk let me say that I can't thank you and your people enough for the things you've done. I will be sure and let every Texan know what you and your people have done. We owe the Band a great deal, not the least being our freedom."

The Mexican lieutenant that had been mouthing since the battle ended came forward, "We give our parole! Now you have to let us go!"

Governor Bell lit in to him, "Give you? We don't have to give you a damn thing save an ounce of lead." The governor paused for a second then turned to Red Hawk, "Can we take these officers with us?"

Red Hawk grinned and started to reply to the governor then turned to me and spoke quickly in Comanche. I responded in kind and then Red Hawk turned to the governor, "What if we took a company of your Rangers and a company of our Troopers and march them right up to your capital?"

I thought that the governor's face was going to split wide open, "That, Sir, is a wonderful idea!" He turned to the Ranger captain standing near him, "Get your best company and form them up. We will be taking the officers with us."

The Ranger captain came to attention, "Sir!" He spun on his heel and took off barking orders as he went.

Red Hawk turned to Maggie, "Load First Company and our 'guests' over there. Put them on one of the big helos. Make sure they are all tie wrapped hand and foot. Inform them that any of them offering any foolishness will get to find out if they can fly."

Maggie grinned broadly and saluted, "Sir!" She spun on her heal and went to whistling orders. I saluted and left to see to my wounded.

Governor Bell walked back over to Red Hawk and offered his hand, "Will Trooper Polk be coming to Austin with us?"

Red Hawk looked around to see if the coast was clear, "Tom will be with us and where Tom is Zoë is. She is under strict orders from Tom's wives. Do you have a particular reason for asking?"

The governor walked back to Red Hawk, "With your permission I would like to honour her and Commander Trammel."

"I think that would be fine," Red Hawk stated. The ever present Fanny touched his arm. He turned to see Commander Trammel walking towards them.

Tabitha came to attention and saluted, "Reporting as ordered, Sir!"

Red Hawk returned her salute, "Governor Bell would like to return to Austin. When you get there have your people set up the comm system. We'll be less than an hour behind you."

Tabitha saluted Red Hawk and then turned to Governor Bell and saluted, "We are at your disposal sir." Governor Bell offered Tabitha his arm and they walked off towards the helos. Thirty minutes later they were streaking towards Austin.

Gathered from Commander Trammel's logs:

The trip to Austin was not long enough for the governor to marshal his thoughts. It seemed to him that in no time they were circling and preparing to land. People poured out of buildings knowing that with those flying machines would be news of the war. "Commander I need to speak to the legislature before Red Hawk arrives. Can your second in command do what ever it was that Red Hawk asked you to do? I would like for you to come with me for moral support."

"Bravo one to bravo two, after we land you need to get the comm system set up. Spread the speakers out starting at the steps of their capital."

"Bravo two, roger that." With that the helos flared and landed.

Tabitha and Governor Bell were met by the legislators all speaking at once. The governor reluctantly dropped Tabitha's arm and raised his hands for silence. It was so slow in coming that Tabitha put her fingers to her lips and unleashed an ear splitting whistle. The silence was extreme and immediate. Governor Bell chuckled, "Thank you Commander. Now gentlemen let's return to chambers and I will tell you what I need from you." The governor sent his secretary to alert people about the coming parade and then waded into the politicians.

It wasn't until the Band's big helos started circling that the politicians took a breath. Governor Bell offered his arm to Tabitha and they walked out. Once outside, Tabitha handed the governor a small clip on microphone, "This will allow you to be heard by everyone."

He laughed, "Maybe I should have had this when I was trying to out shout my colleagues."

On the other end of town the Ranger Captain was a little green from the trip to Austin so I gave him something to settle his stomach. His second in command pretty much had all of his men mounted and ready to go. We could see hundreds of people lining both sides of the street. I'm sure that I wasn't the only one happy to see that the street we were going to head down was just on the dry side of muddy. Two hundred plus horses could stir up a lot of dust, so a little muddy wouldn't be too bad.

The governor sent a brand new Texas flag for the Rangers to carry. There were also several Texas flags up and down the street. Red Hawk and the Ranger Captain were ready to begin. The Mexican officers with their hands zip tied behind their back were being very vocal over what they perceived as mistreatment. When the leader of the little insurrection demanded a horse, the Ranger Captain told him that the only way that they would ride would be belly down in the saddle. That seemed to solve the horse issue. It didn't however encourage the brash young officer to shut his mouth.

An honour guard consisting of five Texas Rangers, the centre rider carrying the Texas flag, would lead the parade. They would be followed by our honour guard. The Band's honour guard had always reflected our diverse backgrounds. Riding in the outside spots were the two male members. Carrying our flag in the centre was one of our newest troopers, Lee. Lee was Chinese and had been sold into slavery by her family. Flanking her were troopers Cassie Anders and Rosa Linda Garza. Following the flags of Texas and the Band rode Red Hawk and the Ranger's Captain Rivers. They in turn were followed by the second in commands and the aides-de-camps; Fanny for us, of course, and some pimply faced boy just out of his teens for the Texans.

Behind the aides-de-camps rode the Ranger Company. I had just thought about how proud the folks back home would be if they could see this when it hit me. I spoke quickly in

the into the tac net mike that I wore, "Commander Trammel, would you put a couple of your pilots up and have them video this parade?"

I could almost hear the smile in her voice, "Yes Sir! They are as good as airborne." A scant few minutes later I saw the two helos circling the parade route. On the other end of the street, Tabitha Trammel whispered into her mike and it was our turn to join the parade. As we passed the Texas' flags we would come to attention and look right or left as necessary.

Everyone save the Mexican officers were proud and excited to be there. Eventually we made it to the Capital steps. There we moved into positions saved for us. After that we were allowed to take root.

The governor stepped up to a podium at the top of the steps. "Just a few minutes ago the legislators voted to succeed from the United States. Their refusal to commit troops to protect the men and women of Texas frees us to protect and govern ourselves. In addition to reforming the Republic we will, with the help of the Band, be annexing Mexico." Three of the Mexican officers rushed the steps of the capital at this pronouncement, but were easily turned by the bayonets of the honour guard.

We all swelled with pride when the governor called Tabitha to stand beside him. "Ladies and Gentlemen, it has been an honour and pleasure getting to know this young woman. Flight Commander Tabitha Trammel has fought in fifteen engagements, beginning her military career as a trooper in 7thTroop, 1stCompany, 1stSquadron. Her bravery and abilities saw her in the first group training in the he ... lo ... copters. The flying machines. I quite enjoyed my time flying as soon as I got over being scared to death.

"Her leadership earned her not only the gold wings she wears, but the command of the Bravo flight of Freeland's fast attack he ... lo ... copters.

"In the recent battle with Mexico she led her flight against the Mexican artillery. Then, when the Mexican army launched an attack of over one thousand men, her Flight stopped the Mexican attack in its tracks. For her bravery, leadership, and willingness to answer all of my questions..."

The governor approached a gleaming wooden box being held by an aid. Opening the box, the governor removed a burnished gold medal with a red, white, and blue ribbon. "On behalf of the citizens of the Republic of Texas." The governor backed up a step and saluted Tabitha.

Tabitha returned his salute, "Thank you, Sir." Tabitha turned sharply on her heal and marched over to stand near Red Hawk.

The governor stepped back to the podium, "As a Republic we fought Santa Anna for our freedom. As part of the United States we fought him a second time. Then when he perceived a weakness in the government of the United States he attacked us yet again. Santa Anna will never attack us again."

The governor paused as a murmur passed over the crowd. "We offered terms of surrender to the Mexican Army but they persisted in getting ready to attack. Sergeant Zoë Polk, would you come forward."

Zoë stepped out of line and marched to the podium. There she came to attention and saluted Governor Bell, "Sir."

Governor Bell nodded towards Red Hawk and a very muscular trooper came forward carrying Zoë's Barrett. The trooper held the gun above his head. "This young lady," the governor began, "used that rifle to remove the head of Santa Anna at a distance of just over a mile." The crowd cheered wildly. The governor held up his hands to silence the crowd, "Sergeant Zoë Polk began her service to the band as the sharpshooter for 1stTroop, 1stCompany, 1stSquadron. She is ranked as the number one sniper for the Band, having twice out shot all challengers. Sergeant Polk for your skill and dedication to your craft."

A second wooden box was brought forward, opened and the medal removed, "On behalf of the citizens of the Republic of Texas." The governor backed up a step and saluted Zoë.

Zoë returned his salute, "Thank you, Sir."


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Incomplete and Inactive
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Posted:  2007-10-06
Last Modified: 2011-12-02 / 09:18:01 am
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